Serum cholinesterase (ChE) is a glycoprotein that is primarily formed in parenchymal
cells in the liver, the level of which falls in patients with liver cirrhosis and
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) because the synthesis of ChE is reduced to some extent
in such conditions (
1.
). By contrast, hypercholinesterasemia is often observed in a variety of clinical conditions,
such as nephrotic syndrome, fatty liver, diabetes mellitus, hyperthyroidism and various
types of primary tumors, including ovarian carcinomas (
2.
), and glioblastomas (
3.
). HCC is frequently associated with many paraneoplastic syndromes (
4.
,
5.
,
6.
). Only three cases have been reported in association with hypercholinesterasemia (
7.
,
8.
) but previous reports have not provided direct evidence that the carcinoma cells could
produce the ChE. We present two such cases and provide direct evidence of ChE production
in HCC.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
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© 1999 Published by Elsevier Inc.
