Abnormal plasminogen is consistently elevated and can be found in the serum of patients with vitamin K deficiency, treatment with warfarin, or hepatocellular hepatocellular carcinoma.
Plasminogen is a vitamin K-dependent coagulation factor II synthesized by the liver, which lacks functional activity and cannot be activated by physiologic activators.
1. Plasminogen requires the involvement of vitamin K to bind calcium ions and produce clotting activity. When vitamin K is deficient or when the vitamin K antagonist warfarin is taken, the vitamin K-dependent carboxylation process in the hepatocytes is blocked, and some of the glutamic acid residues on the N-terminal end of the precursor molecule of plasminogen are released into the bloodstream without being carboxylated, resulting in the appearance of abnormal plasminogen.
2. The level of abnormal plasminogen increases gradually with the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma, the mechanism of which has not been elucidated yet, and it may be related to the obstruction of vitamin K circulation and the alteration of vitamin K-dependent carboxylation system in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. After effective treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, the level of serum abnormal prothrombin gradually decreases or even returns to normal, and the level rises again after recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Interpretation of specific indexes and treatment of the disease should be carried out under the guidance of physicians.