Upregulation of Glypican-3 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma but downregulation in cholangiocarcinoma indicates its differential diagnosis value in primary liver cancers

Background/Aim: Expression alteration of Glypican-3 (GPC3) is associated with several malignancies and has been identified as an overexpressed gene in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study GPC3 expression in intrahepatic chanlangiocarcinoma (ICC), gallbladder cancer and HCC was quantitatively detected. Methods: Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the expression level of GPC3. Results: GPC3 expression was elevated more than two-fold in HCC compared with adjacent tissue in 90 of 100 HCC cases. The average expression level of GPC3 was significantly higher in HCC than that in adjacent liver tissues (P