Combination of dual serum fluorescence, AFP and hepatic function tests is valuable to identify HCC in AFP-elevated liver diseases

A Fast-Response AIE-Active Ratiometric Fluorescent Probe for the Detection of Carboxylesterase

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is associated with a high mortality rate worldwide. The therapeutic outcomes can be significantly improved if diagnosis and treatment are initiated earlier in the disease process. Recently, the carboxylesterase (CaE) activity/level in human plasma was reported to be a novel serological biomarker candidate for HCC. In this article, we fabricated a new fluorescent probe with AIE characteristics for the rapid detection of CaE with a more reliable ratiometric response mode. The TCFISE probe showed high sensitivity (LOD: 93.0 μU/mL) and selectivity toward CaE. Furthermore, the good pH stability, superior resistance against photobleaching, and low cytotoxicity highlight the high potential of the TCFISE probe for application in the monitoring of CaE activity in complex biological samples and in live cells, tissues, and animals.

Extracellular Vesicles and Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Opportunities and Challenges

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is increasing worldwide. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain sufficient bioactive substances and are carriers of intercellular information exchange, as well as delivery vehicles for nucleic acids, proteins and drugs. Although EVs show great potential for the treatment of HCC and their role in HCC progression has been extensively studied, there are still many challenges such as time-consuming extraction, difficult storage, easy contamination, and low drug loading rate. We focus on the biogenesis, morphological characteristics, isolation and extraction of EVs and their significance in the progression of HCC, tumor invasion, immune escape and cancer therapy for a review. EVs may be effective biomarkers for molecular diagnosis of HCC and new targets for tumor-targeted therapy.

Aptamer-Based Triple Serum Fluorescence Intensity Assay: A Novel and Feasible Method for the Clinical Diagnosis of Primary Hepatic Carcinoma

Background and Aims

Aptamers are artificial ligands that bind to biological targets with high specificity and affinity. We previously selected a group of aptamers against the serum of primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC) via systematic evolution of ligands by exponential and enrichment (SELEX) method, and some of the aptamers were valuable for PHC diagnosis in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) analysis. Here, we used aptamers to develop a novel method suitable for the clinical diagnosis of PHC.

Methods

The intensities of serum autofluorescence, cell-free DNA (cfDNA)-related fluorescence and aptamer-related fluorescence, named the aptamer-based triple serum fluorescence intensity (ATSFI), were sequentially measured at 8 °C and 37 °C in one tube by using a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system as a fluorimeter in patients with PHC (n=346) or liver cirrhosis (n=321). The diagnostic performances of ATSFI indicators alone and in combination were evaluated by area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROC), and the underlying clinical mechanisms were analyzed by bivariate correlation.

Results

The measurement of ATSFI was high throughput, rapid, convenient, and low cost. The aptamer-related fluorescence indicator SEA-SE37 was the most valuable for PHC diagnosis among all fluorescence indicators and superior to alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (AUROC 0.879 vs. 0.836). The logistic model of ATSFI indicators exhibited excellent diagnostic performance for PHC, including AFP-negative, early and small PHCs, with AUROCs of 0.935-0.950 and accuracies of 86.8-88.3%. The diagnostic performance was further improved when ATSFI indicators were combined with AFP, with AUROCs of approximately 0.95 and accuracies of approximately 90%, suggesting ATSFI was independent of but complementary to AFP in PHC diagnosis. ATSFI models were highly valuable in clinical decision-making. The aptamer-related fluorescence intensity was generally independent of the clinicopathological characteristics of PHC but correlated with laboratory characteristics of PHC serum.

Conclusions

The ATSFI assay is a novel, robust and feasible method for the clinical diagnosis of PHC.

New Blood Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of AFP-Negative Hepatocellular Carcinoma

An early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) followed by effective treatment is currently critical for improving the prognosis and reducing the associated economic burden. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the most widely used biomarker for HCC diagnosis. Based on elevated serum AFP levels as well as typical imaging features, AFP-positive HCC (APHC) can be easily diagnosed, but AFP-negative HCC (ANHC) is not easily detected due to lack of ideal biomarkers and thus mainly reliance on imaging. Imaging for the diagnosis of ANHC is probably insufficient in sensitivity and/or specificity because most ANHC tumors are small and early-stage HCC, and it is involved in sophisticated techniques and high costs. Moreover, ANHC accounts for nearly half of HCC and exhibits a better prognosis compared with APHC. Therefore, the diagnosis of ANHC in clinical practice has been a critical issue for the early treatment and prognosis improvement of HCC. In recent years, tremendous efforts have been made to discover new biomarkers complementary to AFP for HCC diagnosis. In this review, we systematically review and discuss the recent advances of blood biomarkers for HCC diagnosis, including DNA biomarkers, RNA biomarkers, protein biomarkers, and conventional laboratory metrics, focusing on their diagnostic evaluation alone and in combination, in particular on their diagnostic performance for ANHC.

Diagnostic value of the γ-glutamyltransferase and alanine transaminase ratio, alpha-fetoprotein, and protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist II in hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a common type of malignancy with a poor prognosis. Identification and utilisation of markers for monitoring and diagnosis are urgently needed. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and Protein Induced by Vitamin K Absence or Antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) have been proved to be efficient biomarkers for hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The combination of the two markers could improve the detection rate. However, these indicators cannot meet the need of clinical diagnosis.It is necessary to discover novel serological markers and more cost-effective, appropriate combination of these markers for the diagnosis and surveillance of HBV-related HCC. Accordingly, in this study, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of γ-glutamyltransferase (γ-GT) to alanine amino transferase (ALT) ratio alone or in combination with AFP and PIVKA-II for HBV-related HCC. 234 patients with HBV-related HCC and 396 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) were enrolled in this study and approved by the institutional review board. Our results showed levels of AFP and PIVKA-II, and γ-GT/ALT ratio in cases with early-stage HCC, HCC, HCC plus HBV DNA positivity, and HCC plus HBV DNA negativity were higher than those in the corresponding CHB control group. Additionally, the levels of serum AFP and PIVKA-II, and the γ-GT/ALT ratio were positively correlated with tumour sizes in patients with HBV-related HCC. The areas under the ROC curves (AUROCs) of the γ-GT/ALT ratio in patients with early-stage HCC, HCC, HCC plus HBV DNA positivity, and HCC plus HBV DNA negativity were 0.795, 0.846,0.855, and 0.837, respectively; AUROCs of combination of the γ-GT/ALT ratio and PIVKA-II were 0.858, 0.928, 0.948, and 0.902, respectively; AUROCs of combination of the γ-GT/ALT ratio and AFP were 0.822, 0.886, 0.896, and 0.873, respectively;AUROCs of combination of the γ-GT/ALT ratio and PIVKA-II with AFP were 0.857, 0.928, 0.946, and 0.907, respectively, and AUROCs of combination of PIVKA-II and AFP were 0.804, 0.904, 0.942, and 0.863, respectively. In conclusion, the γ-GT/ALT ratio was a useful biomarker for the diagnosis of HBV-related HCC and that the combination of AFP and PIVKA-II with the γ-GT/ALT ratio could improve the diagnostic value of these biomarkers for HBV-related HCC. Moreover, the ratio of γ-GT/ALT may be a useful index in monitoring patients for progression of HBV-related HCC.

Simple Clinical Metrics Enhance AFP to Effectively Identify Cirrhotic Patients With Complicating Hepatocellular Carcinoma at Various AFP Levels

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) frequently occurs in cirrhosis and closely relates to poor prognosis of cirrhotic patients. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the most widely used biomarker in HCC diagnosis but not sensitive and specific to detect HCC at low AFP levels. In order to enhance the ability of AFP to detect HCC developed on cirrhosis, we attempted to combine AFP with conventional clinical metrics to develop a simple and effective method for identifying cirrhotic patients with complicating HCC at various AFP levels.

Methods: Cirrhotic patients with or without HCC hospitalized to receive therapy for the first time were recruited and their clinical data were retrospectively collected. A model for diagnosing HCC was developed with routine clinical metrics and AFP by binary logistic regression analysis and internally validated. The goodness of fit, diagnostic accuracy and clinical usefulness of the model were evaluated using a calibration curve, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) and a decision curve analysis, respectively.

Results: A total of 574 patients with cirrhosis mainly caused by hepatitis B were recruited in this study, including 286 cases of simple cirrhosis (LC) and 288 cases of cirrhosis with HCC (LCC) (124 AFP-negative), with an average age of 53.2 ± 12.1 years and 81.4% males. Twelve of the 19 clinical metrics (age, gender, AFP, liver function tests, serum electrolytes, and coagulation tests) significantly differed between the LC and LCC groups. A model was successfully developed with age, AFP, Na⁺, Cl⁻, alkaline phosphatase, and activated partial thromboplastin time, which exhibited good performance in diagnosing LCC, with an AUROC of 0.918 (95%CI 0.895–0.940), 82.3% sensitivity, 89.5% specificity, and 85.9% accuracy for all patients, which were much higher values than those for AFP [0.846 (95%CI 0.815–0.878), 72.9, 81.5, and 77.2%, respectively]. For cirrhotic patients complicated with AFP-negative HCC, the model showed an AUROC of 0.854 (95%CI 0.812–0.896), 68.5% sensitivity, 86.6% specificity, and 80.0% accuracy. A high net benefit could be obtained in clinical decision making according to the model.

Conclusion: A diagnostic model combining simple clinical metrics with AFP is valuable for the identification of cirrhotic patients complicating HCC with various AFP levels.

AFP specificity for HCC surveillance is increased by mitigating liver injury among treated chronic hepatitis B patients with elevated AFP

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to assess AFP response in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with baseline positive AFP (≥7 ng/mL) who received antiviral therapy thereafter.

METHODS

A cohort study was conducted to assess AFP response in CHB patients who had baseline positive AFP and got antiviral therapy.

RESULTS

This retrospective study enrolled 302 antiviral-treatment-naïve CHB patients with positive AFP. After a 12-month antiviral treatment, 144 patients normalized AFP during follow-up while the rest remained AFP-positive. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics and virologic and ALT responses to antiviral therapy between the two groups. During a mean follow-up of 34 ± 6 months, 16 patients (5.3%) in this cohort developed HCC, and 14 (8.9%) of them emerged in the AFP positive group. There was a significant difference (P=0.004) in HCC occurrence between AFP normalized and non-normalized groups after treatment. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that cirrhosis (HR=9.983, 95% CI=3.609-27.617, P<0.001), and non-AFP response to antiviral treatment (HR=6.517, 95% CI=1.475-28.784, P=0.013) were two independent factors associated with HCC occurrence.

CONCLUSIONS

To our knowledge, this is the first investigator-initiated cohort study to assess the performance of on-treatment AFP in CHB patients with baseline positive AFP. In contrast to the criticism that AFP is neither sensitive nor specific, the current study has provided important evidence that on-antiviral-treatment AFP normalization is a specific protective marker for HCC in patients with HBV-related chronic liver diseases who started antiviral therapy thereafter.

Alpha-fetoprotein to transaminase ratio is related to higher diagnostic efficacy for hepatocellular carcinoma

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), as the most widely used biomarker of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), was correlated with ongoing liver damage. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of inflammatory correction-based AFP to identify HCC from other liver diseases.From March 2012 to March 2017, among 926 participants, a total of 501 patients whose transaminases were higher than the upper limit of normal range, including 166 treatment-naïve HCC patients were enrolled in our retrospective study. The liver function, white blood cell (WBC) count and serum AFP level of all patients were collected at the initial stage of admission. The area under the receiver-operating curve (AUROC) of AFP, AFP/(Aspartate aminotransferase*Alanine aminotransferase) [AFP/(AST*ALT)] and AFP/WBC were compared between the HCC group and the control groups for the quantifying diagnostic efficacy.AUROCs of our novel index AFP/(AST*ALT) were up to 0.853 (95% confidence interval, CI 0.818-0.887, P < .001) and 0.825 (95% CI 0.782-0.868, P < .001), respectively, when differentiating HCC from non-HCC patients and from cirrhosis patients, which was superior to AFP and AFP/WBC. Diagnostic performance of AFP/(AST*ALT) could be verified in hepatitis B virus (HBV)- or hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated HCC patients as well. What's more, AFP/(AST*ALT) had a significant positive and moderate correlation with tumor diameter and presence of cancerous emboli or not (Spearman correlation coefficients were 0.323 and 0.305, respectively; both P < .001). For predicting HCC, the optimal cut-off value of AFP/(AST*ALT) is 1.603, and the sensitivity and specificity were 82.8% and 72.7%, respectively, which were significantly higher than the AFP and AFP/WBC.The serum AFP levels based on correction of liver inflammation can effectively improve the diagnostic performance of HCC, providing a new indicator that is simple, economical and pervasive for clinic.

Perilipin 5 and Lipocalin 2 Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent and deadly cancers worldwide. Therefore, current global research focuses on molecular tools for early diagnosis of HCC, which can lead to effective treatment at an early stage. Perilipin 5 (PLIN5) has been studied as one of the main proteins of the perilipin family, whose role is to maintain lipid homeostasis by inhibiting lipolysis. In this study, we show for the first time that PLIN5 is strongly expressed in tumors of human patients with HCC as well as in mouse livers, in which HCC was genetically or experimentally induced by treatment with the genotoxic agent diethylnitrosamine. Moreover, the secreted acute phase glycoprotein Lipocalin 2 (LCN2) established as a biomarker of acute kidney injury, is also proven to indicate liver injury with upregulated expression in numerous cases of hepatic damage, including steatohepatitis. LCN2 has been studied in various cancers, and it has been assigned roles in multiple cellular processes such as the suppression of the invasion of HCC cells and their metastatic abilities. The presence of this protein in blood and urine, in combination with the presence of α-Fetoprotein (AFP), is hypothesized to serve as a biomarker of early stages of HCC. In the current study, we show in humans and mice that LCN2 is secreted into the serum from liver cancer tissue. We also show that AFP-positive hepatocytes represent the main source for the massive expression of LCN2 in tumoral tissue. Thus, the strong presence of PLIN5 and LCN2 in HCC and understanding their roles could establish them as markers for diagnosis or as treatment targets against HCC.

Clinical value of protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II in diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM

To evaluate the clinical value of protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-Ⅱ (PIVKA-Ⅱ) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODS

A total of 285 patients with HCC, 60 patients with liver cirrhosis, 60 patients with chronic viral hepatitis (38 with chronic hepatitis B and 22 with chronic hepatitis C), 30 patients with other chronic hepatopathies (14 with drug hepatitis, 8 with alcoholic hepatitis, and 8 with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis), 25 patients with gastric cancer or colorectal cancer, and 40 healthy controls were enrolled at the Tianjin Second People's Hospital from April 2016 to April 2017. Their serum samples were collected and serum levels of PIVKA-ⅡandAFP were measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ELICA). The area under the ROC curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity of PIVKA-Ⅱ and AFP, alone or in combination, in the diagnosis of HCC were analyzed. The correlation between PIVKA-Ⅱ and clinical characteristics (such as tumor size and BCLC stage) was also analyzed.

RESULTS

There were significant differences in serum levels of AFP and PIVKA-Ⅱ between the HCC group and the other groups (P < 0.01). Serum levels of both PIVKA-Ⅱ and AFP in the HCC group were significantly higher than those in the other groups (P < 0.01). For the diagnosis of HCC, PIVKA-Ⅱ had a higher sensitivity (84.2% vs 70.9%, P < 0.001) and specificity (81.4% vs 65.6%, P < 0.001) than AFP. When combining the serum levels of AFP and PIVKA-Ⅱ, the sensitivity for the diagnosis of HCC was higher than PIVKA-Ⅱ alone (89.5% vs 84.2%), but there was no statistical significance (P > 0.05). PIVKA-Ⅱ in differentiating HCC cases from controls was also better than AFP (AUC: 0.865 vs 0.768, P < 0.001). In the HCC group, serum levels of PIVKA-Ⅱ were associated with sex, tumor number, and microvascular invasion, but had no association with age, viral infection, tumor diameter, portal vein tumor thrombus, or Child-Pugh classification. Serum levels of PIVKA-Ⅱ increased with increased BCLC stage (H = 48.70, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Serum PIVKA-Ⅱ is more efficient than AFP in the diagnosis of HCC. In the HCC group, PIVKA-Ⅱ serum levels are associated with sex, tumor number, and microvascular invasion.