Circulating biomarkers for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is estimated to be the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. HCC patients face a dismal prognosis because symptoms usually appear in an advanced stage of disease. The detection of early stage HCC allows for curative surgical treatment and therefore saves lives. Specific non-invasive or diagnostic markers for HCC may represent a valuable tool for detecting these tumors at an early stage. The clinically most established serological biomarker alpha-fetoprotein shows only limited diagnostic performance, however novel candidate biomarkers and biomarker panels for detecting HCC at early stages of development are being studied. In this review we will discuss the findings of these studies.

Serum Biomarkers for the Prediction of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…Underlying liver disease is indeed a point of contention as in processes like viral hepatitis; there is an ongoing inflammatory cascade that obscures the approach to identifying immune or inflammatory markers that could be related to the tumor. With new advancing technologies, which allow us to detect low expressing proteins, RNAs and genetic material in endovesicles, a number of new circulating biomarkers are currently under study [ 8 , 13 ]. In this review, we aim to summarize the available information and recent developments on HCC biomarkers detected in serum, classified as protein, miRNA and immune biomarkers ( Figure 1 ), which may impact early HCC diagnosis and, therefore, implementation of appropriate management that can optimize prognosis in HCC.…”

RPLP1 is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and promotes proliferation, invasion and migration of human hepatocellular carcinoma Hep3b cells

“…HCC is the sixth most common primary malignant tumor, which poses a great threat to human health and life, with ~800,000 mortalities annually worldwide ( 19 , 20 ). Increasing evidence suggests that several biomarkers can be used to predict cancer progression and are associated with the prognosis of patients with different types of cancer ( 21 , 22 ).…”

Dynamics of m6A RNA Methylome on the Hallmarks of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…Surveillance for HCC, principally in high-risk individuals, includes ultrasonography and biomarker testing ( Yang and Roberts, 2010 ). While emerging research shows several promising biomarkers, pertaining to HCC diagnosis, prognosis, and clinical staging, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF; Biselli-Chicote et al, 2012 ), epidermal growth factor (EGF; Kedmi et al, 2015 ), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF; Campbell et al, 2005 ), insulin-like growth factor (IGF; Enguita-Germán and Fortes, 2014 ), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and microRNAs ( Mínguez and Lachenmayer, 2011 ; Okada et al, 2015 ), currently alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the only clinically approved serological biomarker ( Beudeker and Boonstra, 2020 ). In fact, high expression levels of EGF and VEGF that promote proliferation and angiogenesis, respectively, have been associated with early recurrence of HCC, while TGF and PDGF receptor protein overexpression has been shown to activate profibrotic pathways that induce liver tumorigenesis ( Campbell et al, 2005 ; Biselli-Chicote et al, 2012 ; Kedmi et al, 2015 ).…”