Introduction:
The aim of the study was to evaluate chemerin levels as a potentially useful marker in diagnosing early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as well as in HCC staging.

Material and methods:
The cohort comprised 76 patients: 45 people with cirrhosis and HCC (including 13 with a single HCC lesion in the liver and 32 with metastatic lesions/spread of HCC in the liver) and 21 people with isolated cirrhosis. The control group included 10 clinically healthy people.

Results:
The degree of liver failure in the whole cohort was assessed using the Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) score (class A – 34, class B – 28, class C – 4) and using the MELD score (≤ 12 points – 45 and > 12 points – 21 people). Serum chemerin level in patients with liver cirrhosis only was 53.30 ng/ml, in patients with a single HCC lesion 77.01 ng/ml, and in patients with disseminated HCC 83.58 ng/ml. In the control group, the chemerin level was 82.20 µg/ml. When patients with cirrhosis and with/without HCC were divided according to their CTP scores, the level of chemerin was as follows: class A – 83.90 µg/ml, class B – 61 µg/ml, class C – 30.10 µg/ml. For MELD scores ≤ and > 12 it was 75 µg/ml and 58 µg/ml, respectively. For BCLC staging the results were as follows: A – 20.10 µg/ml, B – 20.20 µg/ml, C –19.44 µg/ml.

Conclusions:
Chemerin increases with the number of neoplastic lesions and decreases with the progression of liver failure as assessed using the CTP score.