γ-Glutamyltranspeptidase as a Prognostic Biomarker in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated with Transarterial Chemoembolization

Association of Serum ɣ-Glutamyl Transpeptidase Levels With Overall Survival in Intermediate and Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated With Transarterial Chemoembolization

Introduction

This article aims to evaluate the prognostic significance of pretreatment serum ɣ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) levels in patients with intermediate (BCLC B) and advanced stage (BCLC C) hepatocellular carcinoma receiving transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) as first-line treatment.

Methods

In this single-center retrospective study, a total of 608 patients with BCLC B and BCLC C class were included who received TACE as first-line treatment modality. Patients were divided into low and high GGT groups based on a cutoff value of pretreatment serum GGT levels calculated by receiver operating curve. Overall survival was evaluated with Kaplan-Meier method, and intergroup significance was calculated by log-rank test for overall patients, each BCLC B and BCLC C group. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used for significance for prognostic factors.

Results

Median follow-up time was 20, 22, and 9 months for overall patients, BCLC B, and BCLC C group, respectively. Optimal cut value for GGT was calculated at 90.5 U/L. One-year and 3-year survival rates were 84.2% and 27.9% in low GGT, 49.4% and 8.6% in high-GGT group for overall patients. Multivariate analysis in overall patients showed Child-Pugh B (HR,1.801; 95%CI, 1.373-2.362, P < .001), ascites (1.393, 1.070-1.812; P = .014), multiple tumors (1.397, 1.137-1.716; P = .001), AST >40 (1.407, 1.095-1.808; P = .008), albumin <3.2 (.735, .612-.884; P = .001), AFP > 400 (1.648, 1.351-2.011; P < .001), high GGT (2.009, 1.631-2.475; P < .001), or receipt of chemo/ablation (.463, .377-.569; P < .001) as independent risk factors for overall survival. Serum GGT levels and AFP showed significant correlation in between with significance coefficient of .155 (P < .001).

Conclusion

Elevated pretreatment serum GGT level was feasible and promising independent prognostic marker for overall survival in intermediate and advanced stage hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with TACE.

Development of a Prognostic Nomogram in Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Portal Vein Tumor Thrombus Following Trans-Arterial Chemoembolization with Drug-Eluting Beads

Objective

To develop and validate a prognostic nomogram in eastern patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) receiving trans-arterial chemoembolization with drug-eluting beads (DEB-TACE).

Methods

This retrospective study included 200 patients with training cohort (n = 118) from institution 1 and test cohort (n = 82) from institution 2. All these patients received first-line DEB-TACE between October 2016 and October 2018. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was performed on the training cohort to reveal the independent prognostic factors, and then prognostic nomograms were developed. In order to evaluate the performance of the nomogram comprehensively in both the training and test cohorts, C-index, Kaplan–Meier curve with Log rank test, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), calibration plot, and decision curve analysis (DCA) were performed.

Results

Tumor number, serum γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) level, and level of PVTT were independent risk factors of prognosis. A nomogram was constructed to predict 6-, 12- and 18-month overall survival (OS) based on these identified prognostic factors. C-indexes of the nomogram were 0.88 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.79–0.97) in the training cohort and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.75–0.99) in the test cohort. The Kaplan–Meier curve analysis showed that the nomogram was able to separate patients into low- and high-risk subgroups. ROC curves for the nomogram at 6-, 12- and 18-month showed satisfied discrimination, with an AUC of 0.765, 0.803 and 0.809 in the training cohort, respectively, and 0.772, 0.724 and 0.746 in the test cohort, respectively. The calibration curve demonstrated good agreement between predicted and actual survival rates in the training and test cohorts. The decision curve showed good performance of the nomogram in terms of clinical application.

Conclusion

We developed and validated a nomogram that was accurate and clinically useful in eastern patients with HBV-associated HCC with PVTT who underwent DEB-TACE.

Predicting early refractoriness of transarterial chemoembolization in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma using a random forest algorithm: A pilot study

Purpose: To develop and validate a random forest (RF) based predictive model of early refractoriness to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: A total of 227 patients with unresectable HCC who initially treated with TACE from three independent institutions were retrospectively included. Following a random split, 158 patients (70%) were assigned to a training cohort and the remaining 69 patients (30%) were assigned to a validation cohort. The process of variables selection was based on the importance variable scores generated by RF algorithm. A RF predictive model incorporating the selected variables was developed, and five-fold cross-validation was performed. The discrimination and calibration of the RF model were measured by a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test.

Results: The potential variables selected by RF algorithm for developing predictive model of early TACE refractoriness included patients' age, number of tumors, tumor distribution, platelet count (PLT), and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). The results showed that the RF predictive model had good discrimination ability, with an area under curve (AUC) of 0.863 in the training cohort and 0.767 in the validation cohort, respectively. In Hosmer-Lemeshow test, the RF model had a satisfactory calibration with P values of 0.538 and 0.068 in training cohort and validation cohort, respectively.

Conclusion: The RF algorithm-based model has a good predictive performance in the prediction of early TACE refractoriness, which may easily be deployed in clinical routine and help to determine the optimal patient of care.

Exploring the clinical value of preoperative serum gamma-glutamyl transferase levels in the management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma receiving postoperative adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization

Background

Preoperative serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (γ-GT) levels is significantly related to the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but its clinical value in the management of postoperative adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization (PA-TACE) has rarely been explored. This study aimed to investigate whether γ-GT levels could be taken as a biomarker to guide the management of PA-TACE in resectable HCC.

Methods

HCC patients receiving radical resection were identified through the primary liver cancer big data (PLCBD) from December 2012 to December 2015. Prognostic factors of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were identified by univariate and multivariate cox analyses, and subgroup analysis was conducted between PA-TACE group and non-TACE stratified by γ-GT levels before and after 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM).

Results

γ-GT level was found to be an independent risk factor of OS and DFS in 1847 HCC patients receiving radical resection (both P < 0.05), and patients with elevated γ-GT(> 54.0 U/L) have a shortened median OS and DFS, compared with those with normal γ-GT (both P < 0.001). In the subgroup of patients with normal γ-GT, there were no significant differences between groups of PA-TACE and non-TACE in terms of median OS and DFS before and after PSM (all P > 0.05), and PA-TACE was not a significant prognostic factor of both OS and DFS before and after PSM (all P > 0.05). In the subgroup of patients with elevated γ-GT, significant differences were found between groups of PA-TACE and non-TACE in terms of median OS and DFS before and after PSM (all P < 0.05), and PA-TACE was an independent prognostic factor of both OS and DFS (all P < 0.05).

Conclusion

Currently, we concluded that patients with more advanced HCC also have more elevated γ-GT, and these patients with elevated γ-GT would be benefited more from PA-TACE after radical resection.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-021-08843-z.

Expression Status and Prognostic Significance of Gamma-Glutamyl Transpeptidase Family Genes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

PURPOSE

Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) family genes play crucial roles in the formation and progression of several solid tumors. However, the expression patterns and the prognostic significance of GGT members in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unknown. This study was designed to determine the expression profiles of GGT family members in HCC and validate the prognostic value of serum GGT protein in patients with HCC.

METHOD

We comprehensively searched public resources based on the LIHC dataset to determine the expression patterns, prognostic significance, DNA methylation status, immune infiltration, and biological pathways of GGT family genes in HCC. Subsequently, we validated the prognostic value of serum GGT protein in 85 patients with early-stage HCC subjected to curative hepatectomy from the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University.

RESULTS

Except for GGT1, other GGT family members (GGT5, GGT6, and GGT7) were found to be differentially expressed in primary HCC samples (N = 371) and normal control tissues (N = 50). Furthermore, a positive relationship was not only observed between GGT1 and GGT5 (Spearman coefficient: 0.24, P = 5.143 × 10-6) but also between GGT5 and GGT6 (Spearman coefficient: 0.38, P = 1.24 × 10-13). The expression of GGT1, GGT5, and GGT7 was correlated with overall survival (OS), and GGT7 was associated with disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with HCC. Negative associations between DNA methylation and expression of mRNA were observed for GGT1 (Spearman coefficient: -0.38, P = 6.24e-14), GGT6 (Spearman coefficient: -0.29, P = 1.23e-8), and GGT7 (Spearman coefficient: -0.34, P=6.7e-11). GGT family genes were well correlated with the infiltration levels of immune cells in HCC, especially CD4+ T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Finally, when validated with clinical data from the Renmin cohort, a high expression of serum GGT protein was identified as a strong prognostic element of unfavorable OS (HR = 3.114, P = 0.025), but not of DFS (HR = 1.198, P = 0.05) in patients with HCC subjected to curative hepatectomy.

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive analysis of the expression patterns and clinical value of GGT family genes in patients with HCC. Our study laid the foundation for the clinical application of the GGT protein in the survival assessment of patients with HCC.