HCC: current surgical treatment concepts

Effects of stereotactic body radiotherapy for clinical outcomes of patients with liver metastasis and hepatocellular carcinoma: A retrospective study

This retrospective clinical study described the treatment efficacy and safety of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for patients of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver metastasis tumors. The therapeutic effect and prognosis of patients with liver cancer treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) at the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (Shanghai, China) between July 2011 and December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Overall survival (OS), local control (LC) rates and progression-free survival (PFS) were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analysis and the log-rank test. Local progression was defined as tumor growth after SBRT on dynamic computed tomography follow-up. Treatment-related toxicities were assessed according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4. A total of 36 patients with liver cancer were enrolled in the present study. The prescribed dosages (14 Gy in 3 fractions or 16 Gy in 3 fractions) were applied for SBRT treatments. The median follow-up time was 21.4 months. The median OS time was 20.4 [95% confidence interval (CI): 6.6-34.2] months, and the 2-year OS rates for the total population, HCC group and liver metastasis group were 47.5, 73.3 and 34.2%, respectively. The median PFS time was 17.3 (95% CI: 11.8-22.8) months and the 2-year PFS rates for the total population, HCC group and liver metastasis group were 36.3, 44.0 and 31.4%, respectively. The 2-year LC rates for the total population, HCC group and liver metastasis group were 83.4, 85.7 and 81.6%, respectively. The most common grade IV toxicity for the HCC group was liver function impairment (15.4%), followed by thrombocytopenia (7.7%). There were no grade III/IV radiation pneumonia or digestive discomfort. The present study aimed to explore a safe, effective and non-invasive treatment method for liver tumors. At the same time, the innovation of the present study is to find a safe and effective prescription dose of SBRT in the absence of consensus on guidelines.

Circ_0067934 as a novel therapeutic target in cancer: From mechanistic to clinical perspectives

Circular RNAs, as a type of non-coding RNAs, are identified in a various cell. Circular RNAs have stable structures, conserved sequence, and tissue and cell-specific level. High throughput technologies have proposed that circular RNAs act via various mechanisms like sponging microRNAs and proteins, regulating transcription factors, and scaffolding mediators. Cancer is one of the major threat for human health. Emerging data have proposed that circular RNAs are dysregulated in cancers as well as are associated with aggressive behaviors of cancer -related behaviors like cell cycle, proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, migration, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Among them, circ_0067934 was shown to act as an oncogene in cancers to enhance migration, invasion, proliferation, cell cycle, EMT, and inhibit cell apoptosis. In addition, these studies have proposed that it could be a promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in cancer. This study aimed to review the expression and molecular mechanism of circ_0067934 in modulating the malignant behaviors of cancers as well as to explore its potential as a target in cancer chemotherapy, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.

TM4SF1 upregulates MYH9 to activate the NOTCH pathway to promote cancer stemness and lenvatinib resistance in HCC

TM4SF1, a member of the transmembrane 4 superfamily, is crucial for both healthy and malignant human tissues. The significant function of TM4SF1 in the incidence and progression of cancer has been widely recognized in recent years. Although some achievements have been made in the study of TM4SF1, the effect of TM4SF1 on cancer stemness in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its molecular basis are yet to be reported. We found through abundant in vitro and in vivo experiments which the expression of TM4SF1 was positively correlated with the progression and cancer stemness of HCC. We identified the downstream protein MYH9 of TM4SF1 and its final regulatory target NOTCH pathway using bioinformatics analysis and protein mass spectrometry. We cultivated a Lenvatinib-resistant strain from HCC cells to examine the relationship between cancer stemness and tumor drug resistance. The study confirmed that TM4SF1 could regulate the NOTCH pathway by upregulating MYH9, thus promoting cancer stemness and Lenvatinib resistance in HCC. This study not only provided a new idea for the pathogenesis of HCC but also confirmed that TM4SF1 might become a new intervention point to improve the clinical efficacy of Lenvatinib in treating HCC.

Clinical Significance of Glycolytic Metabolic Activity in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

High metabolic activity is a hallmark of cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the molecular features of HCC with high metabolic activity contributing to clinical outcomes and the therapeutic implications of these characteristics are poorly understood. We aimed to define the features of HCC with high metabolic activity and uncover its association with response to current therapies. By integrating gene expression data from mouse liver tissues and tumor tissues from HCC patients (n = 1038), we uncovered three metabolically distinct HCC subtypes that differ in clinical outcomes and underlying molecular biology. The high metabolic subtype is characterized by poor survival, the strongest stem cell signature, high genomic instability, activation of EPCAM and SALL4, and low potential for benefitting from immunotherapy. Interestingly, immune cell analysis showed that regulatory T cells (Tregs) are highly enriched in high metabolic HCC tumors, suggesting that high metabolic activity of cancer cells may trigger activation or infiltration of Tregs, leading to cancer cells' evasion of anti-cancer immune cells. In summary, we identified clinically and metabolically distinct subtypes of HCC, potential biomarkers associated with these subtypes, and a potential mechanism of metabolism-mediated immune evasion by HCC cells.

A Practical Nomogram and Risk Stratification System Predicting Cancer-Specific Survival for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients With Severe Liver Fibrosis

Objective

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. This study aims to construct a novel practical nomogram and risk stratification system to predict cancer-specific survival (CSS) in HCC patients with severe liver fibrosis.

Methods

Data on 1,878 HCC patients with severe liver fibrosis in the period 1975 to 2017 were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (SEER). Patients were block-randomized (1,316 training cohort, 562 validation cohort) by setting random seed. Univariate and multivariate COX regression analyses were employed to select variables for the nomogram. The consistency index (C-index), the area under time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curve (time-dependent AUC), and calibration curves were used to evaluate the performance of the nomogram. Decision curve analysis (DCA), the C-index, the net reclassification index (NRI), and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were used to compare the nomogram with the AJCC tumor staging system. We also compared the risk stratification of the nomogram with the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system.

Results

Seven variables were selected to establish the nomogram. The C-index (training cohort: 0.781, 95%CI: 0.767–0.793; validation cohort: 0.793, 95%CI = 95%CI: 0.779–0.798) and the time-dependent AUCs (the training cohort: the values of 1-, 3-, and 5 years were 0.845, 0.835, and 0.842, respectively; the validation cohort: the values of 1-, 3-, and 5 years were 0.861, 0.870, and 0.876, respectively) showed satisfactory discrimination. The calibration plots also revealed that the nomogram was consistent with the actual observations. NRI (training cohort: 1-, 2-, and 3-year CSS: 0.42, 0.61, and 0.67; validation cohort: 1-, 2-, and 3-year CSS: 0.26, 0.52, and 0.72) and IDI (training cohort: 1-, 3-, and 5-year CSS:0.16, 0.20, and 0.22; validation cohort: 1-, 3-, and 5-year CSS: 0.17, 0.26, and 0.30) indicated that the established nomogram significantly outperformed the AJCC staging system (P < 0.001). Moreover, DCA also showed that the nomogram was more practical and had better recognition.

Conclusion

A nomogram for predicting CSS for HCC patients with severe liver fibrosis was established and validated, which provided a new system of risk stratification as a practical tool for individualized treatment and management.

Long non-coding RNA NRAV enhances proliferation and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by modulating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway

Many dysregulated lncRNAs have been reported to perform an integral function in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the role of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) NRAV in HCC has not been elucidated. To address this issue, we investigated the function of NRAV in HCC in this research. Through bioinformatics prediction and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction validation, we found that NRAV plays an upmodulating role in HCC cells and tissues, and patients with high NRAV expression showed a poor prognosis. Cell viability was examined by conducting a Cell Counting Kit-8 analysis. Subsequently, the proliferation capacity of the cells was analyzed utilizing cell colony formation assay, and transwell invasion experiments were conducted to identify the cell invasion ability. To determine the association between NRAV and miR-199a-3p, and CDGSH iron-sulfur domain-containing protein 2 (CISD2), we conducted a dual luciferase assay. The protein and gene expressions were estimated utilizing Western blot. Findings illustrated that the overexpression of NRAV enhanced the HCC cell viability, proliferation and invasion, whereas they were inhibited significantly by down expression of NRAV. The dual-luciferase assay showed that miR-199a-3p is not only a target for NRAV but also interacts with the 3' UTR of CISD2 in HCC cells. MiR-199a-3p/CISD2 axis performs a function in NRAV-mediated cell behavior regulation. NRAV may trigger the Wnt/β-catenin signaling via the modulation of the miR-199a-3p/CISD2 axis in HCC. The findings of this work can provide novel insights into clinical diagnosis and the treatment of HCC in the future.Abbreviations: HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; LncRNA, long non-coding RNA; CISD2, CDGSH iron-sulfur domain-containing protein 2; CCK-8, Cell Counting Kit-8; cDNA, single-stranded complementary DNA; RT-qPCR, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction; BCA, bicinchoninic acid; ceRNA, competing endogenous RNAs.

A Novel Gene Signature Based on CDC20 and FCN3 for Prediction of Prognosis and Immune Features in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Long-term survivals of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unfavorable, which is largely attributed to active carcinogenesis. Growing studies have suggested that the reliable gene signature could act as an independent prognosis factor for HCC patients. We tried to screen the survival-related genes and develop a prognostic prediction model for HCC patients based on the expression profiles of the critical survival-related genes. In this study, we analyzed TCGA datasets and identified 280 genes with differential expressions (125 increased genes and 155 reduced genes). We analyzed the prognosis value of the top 10 dysregulated genes in HCC patients and identified three critical genes, including FCN3, CDC20, and E2F1, which were confirmed to be associated with long-term survival in both TCGA and ICGC datasets. The results of the LASSO model screened CDC20 and FCN3 for the development of the prognostic model. The CDC20 expression was distinctly increased in HCC specimens, while the FCN3 expression was distinctly decreased in HCC. At a suitable cutoff, patients were divided into low-risk and high-risk groups. Survival assays revealed that patients in high-risk groups exhibited a shorter overall survival than those in low-risk groups. Finally, we examine the relationships between risk score and immune infiltration abundance in HCC and observed that risk score was positively correlated with infiltration degree of B cells, T cell CD4+ cells, neutrophil, macrophage, and myeloid dendritic cells. Overall, we identified three critical survival-related genes and used CDC20 and FCN3 to develop a novel model for predicting outcomes and immune landscapes for patients with HCC. The above three genes also have a high potential for targeted cancer therapy of patients with HCC.

LncRNA MAGI2-AS3 is downregulated in the distant recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after surgical resection and affects migration and invasion via ROCK2

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second most lethal cancer around the world, with poor survival rate and high metastasis rate in patients. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to modulate the initiation and development of liver cancer. We aimed to investigate the role of lncRNA MAGI2-AS3 in HCC and underlying mechanisms.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The expression levels of MAGI2-AS3 in plasma of HCC patients and the control participants were measured by qPCR. Hep3B and MHCC97-H cells were transfected with MAGI2-AS3 and ROCK2 expression vectors. Cell migration and invasion of HCC cells transfected with the vectors were investigated by transwell assay. In addition, flow cytometry and western blot were performed for apoptosis detection.

RESULTS

We found that MAGI2-AS3 was downregulated in plasma of early stage HCC patients compared to healthy controls. After surgical resection, the expression levels of MAGI2-AS3 were increased compared to pretreatment levels on the day of discharge. During the follow-up, MAGI2-AS3 was downregulated in patients developed distant recurrence, but not in other patients compared to the levels measured on the day of discharge. In HCC cells, overexpression of MAGI2-AS3 mediated the downregulation of ROCK2. Cell invasion and migration assay showed that overexpression of MAGI2-AS3 mediated the decreased cell invasion and migration rate, while ROCK2 played an opposite role and attenuated the effects of overexpression of MAGI2-AS3.

CONCLUSION

Our study indicated that MAGI2-AS3 was downregulated in the distant recurrence of HCC after surgical resection and affected the invasion and migration of HCC cells via ROCK2.

Sorafenib Plus Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIM

The clinical utility of sorafenib plus hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (SoraHAIC) in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients remains unclear. We, therefore, conducted the current meta-analysis to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of SoraHAIC therapy on major outcomes with advanced HCC patients.

METHODS

A systematic search of The Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Embase databases was performed. The major outcomes in patients with advanced HCC were divided into SoraHAIC group and sorafenib group, which included overall response rate, overall survival, progressive disease, and adverse events.

RESULTS

Involving a total of 726 patients from 5 included studies, our meta-analysis demonstrated that SoraHAIC showed significantly more improvement than sorafenib alone in overall response rate [risk ratio=3.08; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.38-6.89; P=0.006] and complete response (risk ratio=5.84; 95% CI, 1.85-18.45; P=0.003). With regard to survival outcome, the combination therapy also significantly prolongs the median overall survival than sorafenib monotherapy (hazard ratio=0.59; 95% CI, 0.35-1.00; P=0.05). In addition, the risk of adverse events such as anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia was significantly greater in the combination group than in the sorafenib group (P<0.05 for all).

CONCLUSIONS

This meta-analysis indicated that SoraHAIC seems to be efficient and safe for advanced HCC patients. However, additional large-scale randomized controlled trials are needed to further investigate the clinical benefit.

Surgical treatment results of hepatocellular carcinoma in non-cirrhotic liver in southern Chile: case series with follow-up

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most frequent primary tumour of the liver. Although often associated with chronic liver disease, it can also occur in non-cirrhotic livers. The aim of this study was to describe post-operative morbidity (POM), and survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in non-cirrhotic liver treated surgically, and to identify variables associated with prognosis.

METHODS

Case series of patients who underwent surgery for hepatocellular carcinoma in non-cirrhotic liver at Clínica RedSalud Mayor de Temuco, Chile (2001-2017), were studied. The minimum follow-up time considered was 12 months. Principal outcomes were development of POM and survival. Other variables of interest were age, sex, tumour diameter, surgical time, hospital stay, follow-up time, need for surgical re-intervention, mortality, vascular and lymph node invasion and staging. Descriptive and analytic statistics were calculated.

RESULTS

A total of 32 patients were studied. They were characterized by a mean age of 67.3 ± 7.2 years, 62.5% of whom were men. Averages of tumour diameter, surgical time and hospitalization were 12.0 ± 2.6 cm, 114.4 ± 32.3 min and 7.2 ± 2.9 days, respectively. POM was 31.3%. There was no mortality and there were no re-interventions. The overall actuarial survival at 1, 2 and 3 years was 96.8%, 73.4% and 17.3%, respectively. Lower survival was verified in patients with vascular invasion, lymph node infiltration and stages III and IVa.

CONCLUSION

Despite the tumour diameter and extent of the resections, POM in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in non-cirrhotic liver is moderate. However, its prognosis is poor. Vascular invasion, lymph node invasion and advances stages were associated with worse survival.

External Radiation versus Internal Radiation for Patients with Advanced Unresectable HCC -A SEER Based Study

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 2nd most lethal cancer globally, is the major type of primary liver malignancies currently resulting in about 800,000 deaths globally per annum. Surgical resection remains the only curative treatment to HCC, which does not fit for many patients diagnosed with advanced HCC. Radiation therapy has been gradually concerned as an optional treatment for patients with advanced unresectable HCC. This study aimed to compare external radiation (beam radiation) and internal radiation as a single radiation therapy to advanced HCC patients (TNA stage III and IV according to the derived AJCC Stage, 6th edition) stratified by other risk factors, based on the data collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) national database. In this cohort study, we mainly clarified the following three points: 1. Choices of radiation therapy for advanced HCC patients vary in demographic and clinical factors. Among these, TNM classification is the key factor. 2. Internal radiation provides a better prognosis in both OS and CSS. 3. Patients in stage IV could benefit from internal radiation preferentially, while for patients in stage III, internal radiation therapy makes no difference compared with external radiation.

Dietary Melatonin Supplementation Could Be a Promising Preventing/Therapeutic Approach for a Variety of Liver Diseases

In the therapeutic strategies, the role of diet is a well-established factor that can also have an important role in liver diseases. Melatonin, identified in animals, has many antioxidant properties and it was after discovered also in plants, named phytomelatonin. These substances have a positive effect during aging and in pathological conditions too. In particular, it is important to underline that the amount of melatonin produced by pineal gland in human decreases during lifetime and its reduction in blood could be related to pathological conditions in which mitochondria and oxidative stress play a pivotal role. Moreover, it has been indicated that melatonin/phytomelatonin containing foods may provide dietary melatonin, so their ingestion through balanced diets could be sufficient to confer health benefits. In this review, the classification of liver diseases and an overview of the most important aspects of melatonin/phytomelatonin, concerning the differences among their synthesis, their presence in foods and their role in health and diseases, are summarized. The findings suggest that melatonin/phytomelatonin supplementation with diet should be considered important in preventing different disease settings, in particular in liver. Currently, more studies are needed to strengthen the potential beneficial effects of melatonin/phytomelatonin in liver diseases and to better clarify the molecular mechanisms of action.

Aberrant Lipid Metabolism in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Revealed by Liver Lipidomics

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to characterize the disorder of lipid metabolism in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCC is a worldwide disease. The research into the disorder of lipid metabolism in HCC is very limited. Study of lipid metabolism in liver cancer tissue may have the potential to provide new insight into HCC mechanisms.

METHODS

A lipidomics study of HCC based on Ultra high performance liquid chromatography-electronic spray ionization-QTOF mass spectrometer (UPLC-ESI-QTOF MS) and Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (MALDI-FTICR MS) was performed.

RESULTS

Triacylglycerols (TAGs) with the number of double bond (DB) > 2 (except 56:5 and 56:4 TAG) were significantly down-regulated; conversely, others (except 52:2 TAG) were greatly up-regulated in HCC tissues. Moreover, the more serious the disease was, the higher the saturated TAG concentration and the lower the polyunsaturated TAG concentration were in HCC tissues. The phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylinositol (PI) were altered in a certain way. Sphingomyelin (SM) was up-regulated and ceramide (Cer) were down-regulated in HCC tissues.

CONCLUSIONS

To our knowledge, this is the first such report showing a unique trend of TAG, PC, PE and PI. The use of polyunsaturated fatty acids, like eicosapentanoic and docosahexanoic acid, as supplementation, proposed for the treatment of Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), may also be effective for the treatment of HCC.

Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization plus sorafenib versus transcatheter arterial chemoembolization alone to treat advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Many studies have combined sorafenib with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) to treat patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the results are disputable. Thus, we conducted this meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of the combination treatment in patients with advanced HCC.

METHODS

Clinical data were collected from a computer search of literature published from January 2009 to June 2016 in PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan Fang and the China Science and Technology Journal Database (CSTJ). The final analysis included 14 studies and 1670 patients. The primary endpoints were overall survival (OS), the objective response rate (ORR) and the disease control rate (DCR).

RESULTS

The combination group exhibited significantly more improvement than the group treated with TACE alone in ORR (RR =1.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.34-1.94, p < 0.00001), DCR (RR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.26-1.62, p < 0.00001), 0.5-year OS (OR = 2.60, 95% CI = 1.57-4.29, p = 0.0002) and 1-year OS (OR = 1.88, 95% CI =1.39-2.53, p < 0.0001). The incidence of adverse events from combination therapy was increased compared to that from treatment with TACE alone, and the most commonly reported adverse events were fatigue, hand-foot skin reaction and diarrhoea, which were bearable.

CONCLUSIONS

The meta-analysis indicated that combination therapy is safe and efficient for clinical application.

Differential significance of early surgical complications for acute and long-term recurrence-free survival following surgical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma: do comorbidities play a role?

BACKGROUND

Postoperative complications of Clavien-Dindo grade 3 or more are of prognostic significance in patients who undergo liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, perioperative mortality and patient comorbidities represent relevant factors that interfere with postoperative long-term survival. To clarify this, a retrospective single-center study was carried out.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Patient data were prospectively collected in a continuously updated liver resection database. Overall, 184 consecutive patients who underwent liver resection for HCC with a curative intent between March 2003 and December 2013 were selected for the study. The patients were assigned to two groups according to the presence or absence of postoperative complications. Pre-existing comorbidities, perioperative mortality, surgical outcome, and long-term survival data were analyzed.

RESULTS

Postoperative complications requiring revision surgery were identified in 17.4% of the patients. The in-house mortality rate was 4.8%. Compared with patients without complications, patients with complications were older and had significantly more pre-existing comorbidities, more advanced tumors, more intrahepatic metastasis, longer operation times, greater blood loss, and more extensive resections. The overall 5-year survival rates were 40.1 and 52.5% in patients with or without postoperative complications, respectively. The corresponding 5-year recurrence-free survival rates were 46.3 and 46.7% (perioperative mortality excluded). Multivariate analysis showed that elevation of the Charlson Comorbidity Index was associated independently with decreased overall and recurrence-free survival.

CONCLUSION

In patients with HCC, posthepatectomy complications are confirmed to have predictive value. However, closer analysis and exclusion of perioperative mortality effects show an independent impact of pre-existing comorbidities on long-term overall und recurrence-free survival.

Impact of Glissonean pedicle approach for centrally located hepatocellular carcinoma in mongolia

Approaches to surgical resection of centrally located HCC remain controversial. Traditionally, hemi- or extended hepatectomy is suggested. However, it carries a high risk of postoperative complications in patients with cirrhosis. An alternative approach is Glissonean pedicle transection method. This study was conducted to assess the surgical and survival outcomes associated with central liver resection using the Glissonean pedicle transection. Sixty-nine patients with centrally located HCC were studied retrospectively. They were divided into conventional approach group with hemi- or extended hepatectomy, and Glissonean approach group with multisegmental central liver resection using the Glissonean pedicle transection. Glissonean pedicle transection method has comparable or superior surgical and survival outcomes to conventional hemi- or extended hepatectomy with regard to intraoperative bleeding, complications, hospital stay, and postoperative mortality and survival outcomes in patients with centrally located HCC. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates of the conventional approach group were 74%, 64%, and 55% respectively. For the Glissonean approach group, the 1 and 3-year overall survival rates were 86% and 61%, respectively. Glissonean pedicle transection method is a safe and effective surgical procedure in patients with centrally located HCC.

Dysregulation of GTPase IMAP family members in hepatocellular cancer

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most life‑threatening diseases in the world. Members of the GTPase of the immunity‑associated protein (GIMAP) family are important in regulating apoptosis in cancer cells. However, the basic mechanism of GIMAP in HCC remains to be fully elucidated. The present study was performed to investigate the dysregulation of GIMAP family members in HCC. The techniques of polymerase chain reaction analysis, immunohistochemistry and ELISA were used to analyze the expression of GIMAP5 and GIMAP6 in HCC tissues, in matched noncancerous tissue samples, and in blood samples obtained from patients with HCC and healthy subjects. It was found that the mRNA expression levels of GIMAP5 and GIMAP6 were significantly downregulated in the HCC tumor samples, compared with the levels of expression in the matched non‑tumor tissue samples. Similarly, the mRNA expression levels of GIMAP5 and GIMAP6 were also significantly downregulated in the blood samples from patients with HCC, compared with the expression levels in the blood from healthy subjects. At the protein level, it was found that the GIMAP5 and GIMAP6 proteins were expressed at lower levels in the tumor tissue samples, compared with the matched normal tissue samples, and their expression levels were also lower in the blood samples from patients with HCC, compared with the blood samples from the healthy subjects. These data, demonstrating the downregulation of the mRNA and protein expression levels of GIMAP5 and GIMAP6 in the tumor tissues and blood of patients with HCC, suggested the involvement of GIMAP5 and GIMAP6 in the pathogenesis of HCC, and indicate their possible use as diagnostic markers for HCC.

The Limonoids TS3 and Rubescin E Induce Apoptosis in Human Hepatoma Cell Lines and Interfere with NF-κB Signaling

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is extremely resistant towards pharmacological therapy. To date, the multi-kinase inhibitor Sorafenib is the only available therapeutic agent with the potential to prolong patient survival. Using the human hepatoma cell lines HepG2 and Huh7, we analyzed anti-cancer activities of 6 purified havanensin type limonoids isolated from the traditional African medicinal plant Trichilia rubescens Oliv. Our results show that two of the compounds, TR4 (TS3) and TR9 (Rubescin E) reduced hepatoma cell viability, but not primary hepatocyte viability, at TC50s of 5 to 10 μM. These were significantly lower than the TC50s for Sorafenib, the histone deacetylase inhibitor SAHA or 5-Fluoruracil. In comparison, TR3 (Rubescin D), a limonoid isolated in parallel and structurally highly similar to TR4 and TR9, did not interfere with hepatoma cell viability. Both, TR4 and TR9, but not TR3, induced apoptosis in hepatoma cells and interfered with NF-κB activation. TR4 as well as TR9 significantly supported anti-cancer activities of Sorafenib. In summary, the limonoids TR4 and TR9 exhibit anti-cancer activities and support Sorafenib effects in vitro, having the potential to support future HCC therapy.

Current Treatment Approaches to HCC with a Special Consideration to Transplantation

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. The mainstay of treatment of HCC has been both resectional and transplantation surgery. It is well known that, in selected, optimized patients, hepatectomy for HCC may be an option, even in patients with underlying cirrhosis. Resectable patients with early HCC and underlying liver disease are however increasingly being considered for transplantation because of potential for better disease-free survival and resolution of underlying liver disease, although this approach is limited by the availability of donor livers, especially in resectable patients. Outcomes following liver transplantation improved dramatically for patients with HCC following the implementation of the Milan criteria in the late 1990s. Ever since, the rather restrictive nature of the Milan criteria has been challenged with good outcomes. There has also been an increase in the donor pool with marginal donors including organs retrieved following cardiac death being used. Even so, patients still continue to die while waiting for a liver transplant. In order to reduce this attrition, bridging techniques and methods for downstaging disease have evolved. Additionally new techniques for organ preservation have increased the prospect of this potentially curative procedure being available for a greater number of patients.

The role of portal vein embolization in the surgical management of primary hepatobiliary cancers. A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Primary liver and biliary cancers are very aggressive tumors. Surgical treatment is the main option for cure or long term survival. The main purpose of this systematic review is to underline the indications for portal vein embolization (PVE), in patients with inadequate future liver remnant (FLR) and to analyze other parameters such as resection rate, morbidity, mortality, survival after PVE and hepatectomy for primary hepatobiliary tumors. Also the role of trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE) before PVE, is investigated.

METHODS

A systematic search of the literature was performed in Pub Med and the Cochrane Library from 01.01.1990 to 30.09.2015.

RESULTS

Forty articles were selected, including 2144 patients with a median age of 61 years. The median excision rate was 90% for hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) and 86% for hilar cholangiocarcinomas (HCs). The main indications for PVE in patients with HCC and presence of liver fibrosis or cirrhosis was FLR <40% when liver function was good (ICGR15 < 10%) and FLR < 50% when liver function was affected (ICGR15:10-20%). The combination of TACE and PVE increased hypertrophy rate and was associated with better overall survival and disease free survival and should be considered in advanced HCC tumors with inadequate FLR. In patients with HCs PVE was performed, after preoperative biliary drainage, when FLR was <40%, in the majority of studies, with very good post-operative outcome. However indications should be refined.

CONCLUSION

PVE before major hepatectomy allows resection in a patient group with advanced primary hepato-biliary tumors and inadequate FLR, with good long term survival.

Clinical efficacy of postoperative adjuvant transcatheter arterial chemoembolization on hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of postoperative adjuvant transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODS

Data from 117 patients with HCC who underwent hepatectomy between December 2010 and February 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. In total, 55 patients underwent surgical resection only (group A), and 62 patients underwent surgical resection with adjuvant TACE (group B). The perioperative clinical indicators, postoperative sequential treatment, and follow-up were compared between the two groups of patients. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to compare survival between the groups, and prognostic factors were evaluated by a Cox proportional hazard model.

RESULTS

The two groups showed no significant difference in age, gender, preoperative A-fetoprotein (AFP) values, preoperative Child-Pugh score, hepatitis B virus(HBV) DNA levels, duration of surgery, hepatectomy technique, albumin values 1-week postoperative, postoperative complications, duration of postoperative hospital stay, cirrhosis, tumor size, tumor differentiation, tumor encapsulation, satellite nodules, or microvascular infiltration. Cox regression analysis revealed that tumor size, satellite nodules, and microvascular infiltration were significantly independent prognostic factors (P = 0.001, 0.002, and 0.001). Of the 117 patients, the 1-, 2-, and 3-year disease-free survival rates were 64.5, 50.0, and 41.9%, respectively, for group B (62 patients) and 45.5, 36.4, and 30.9%, respectively, for group A (55 patients). Although improving trends of disease-free survival were observed in the adjuvant TACE group, there was a significant difference in postoperative 1-year survival between the two groups (P = 0.04) but no significant difference in postoperative 2- and 3-year survival. In patients with tumor size >5 cm, the 1-, 2-, and 3-year disease-free survival rates were 41.7, 25.0, and 12.5%, respectively, for group B and 11.8, 0, and 0%, respectively, for group A. There was a significant difference in postoperative 1- and 2-year survival between the two groups (P = 0.04 and 0.03, respectively) but no significant difference in postoperative 3-year survival. In patients with microvascular infiltration, the 1-, 2-, and 3-year disease-free survival rates were 42.3, 26.9, and 15.4%, respectively, for group B and 12.5, 4.2, and 0%, respectively, for group A. There was a significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.02, 0.03, and 0.045, respectively). In patients with satellite nodules, the 1-, 2-, and 3-year disease-free survival rates were 50.0, 50, and 40%, respectively, for group B and 17.6, 0, and 0%, respectively, for group A. There was a significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.04, 0.01, and 0.03, respectively). In patients with tumor size ≤5 cm, without satellite nodules, or without microvascular infiltration, there was no significant difference between the two groups in the 1-, 2-, or 3-year disease-free survival rates. Of 117 patients overall, 18 (15.4%) developed hepatitis B virus reactivation: 2 (3.6%) patients in group A and 16 (25.8%) patients in group B. There was a significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.000). Of these patients, one (1.8 %) patient in group A and five (8.1 %) patients in group B developed hepatitis due to hepatitis B virus reactivation. There was a significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONS

Postoperative adjuvant TACE can improve the 1-year disease-free survival rate of HCC patients. Postoperative adjuvant TACE may improve 2- and 3-year disease-free survival rates, but no statistical significance was found. For patients with tumor size >5 cm, postoperative adjuvant TACE can improve 1- and 2-year disease-free survival rates, and postoperative adjuvant TACE may improve the 3-year disease-free survival rate. For HCC patients with tumor size ≤5 cm, postoperative adjuvant TACE may improve the 1-, 2-, and 3-year disease-free survival rates, but no statistical significance was found. For patients with microvascular infiltration or satellite nodules, postoperative adjuvant TACE can improve the 1-, 2-, and 3-year disease-free survival rates. For patients without microvascular infiltration or without satellite nodules, postoperative adjuvant TACE cannot improve 1-, 2-, or 3-year disease-free survival rates. For patients with tumor size >5 cm with microvascular infiltration or with satellite nodules, postoperative adjuvant TACE was suggested. Hepatitis B virus reactivation can occur in patients with postoperative adjuvant TACE; thus, antiviral treatment was suggested for these patients.

GAB2 promotes cell proliferation by activating the ERK signaling pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma

Grb2-associated binding protein 2 (GAB2), a key member of the family of Gab scaffolding adaptors, is important in the phospoinositide3-kinase (PI3K) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathways, and is closely associated with cell proliferation, cell transformation, and tumor progression. But its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unknown. In this study, we investigated the expression of GAB2 and its potential clinical and biological significances in HCC. Western bolt and immunohistochemistrical analyses revealed that GAB2 was obviously upregulated in HCC tissues. Meanwhile, GAB2 was significantly associated with histological grade, tumor size, and the proliferation marker Ki-67 through our further analysis. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves also showed that increased GAB2 expression was directly correlated with poor prognosis in HCC patients and served as an independent prognostic marker of overall survival. Moreover, serum starvation-refeeding, RNA interference, CCK-8, EDU, colony formation, and flow-cytometry analyses were all performed with the purpose of investigating GAB2's regulation of HCC cell proliferation. Our results indicated that GAB2 progressively accumulated when cells entered into S phase. Consistently, cell proliferation was distinctly hindered by small interfering RNA. More interestingly, we discovered that GAB2 promoted cell proliferation by enhancing ERK signaling and GAB2-induced cell proliferation was inhibited by the inhibition of ERK activation. Finally, GAB2 was verified to be able to confer doxorubicin resistance in HCC cells. In summary, these data demonstrated that GAB2 might promote HCC cell proliferation by enhancing ERK signaling, and all above findings provided a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of HCC.

Hepatocellular carcinoma: From clinical practice to evidence-based treatment protocols

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the major malignant diseases in many healthcare systems. The growing number of new cases diagnosed each year is nearly equal to the number of deaths from this cancer. Worldwide, HCC is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths, as it is the fifth most common cancer and the third most important cause of cancer related death in men. Among various risk factors the two are prevailing: viral hepatitis, namely chronic hepatitis C virus is a well-established risk factor contributing to the rising incidence of HCC. The epidemic of obesity and the metabolic syndrome, not only in the United States but also in Asia, tend to become the leading cause of the long-term rise in the HCC incidence. Today, the diagnosis of HCC is established within the national surveillance programs in developed countries while the diagnosis of symptomatic, advanced stage disease still remains the characteristic of underdeveloped countries. Although many different staging systems have been developed and evaluated the Barcelona-Clinic Liver Cancer staging system has emerged as the most useful to guide HCC treatment. Treatment allocation should be decided by a multidisciplinary board involving hepatologists, pathologists, radiologists, liver surgeons and oncologists guided by personalized -based medicine. This approach is important not only to balance between different oncologic treatments strategies but also due to the complexity of the disease (chronic liver disease and the cancer) and due to the large number of potentially efficient therapies. Careful patient selection and a tailored treatment modality for every patient, either potentially curative (surgical treatment and tumor ablation) or palliative (transarterial therapy, radioembolization and medical treatment, i.e., sorafenib) is mandatory to achieve the best treatment outcome.

Circulating biomarkers of hepatocellular carcinoma response after locoregional treatments: New insights

Hepatocellular cancer is the 5^th most common cancer in the world and the third cause of death by malignant disease. Locoregional therapies are the most usual treatment of choice for patients with early or intermediate stage of disease. The main diagnostic tools for the detection of recurrence are the radiological techniques such as 4-phase computed tomography or dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. However, in order to achieve best evaluation of treatment outcome and recurrence rates, there is a great need for the identification of specific and easily measured circulating biomarkers. The aim of this review is to analyze the existing data considering the prognostic significance of changes of serum diagnostic markers such as alpha-fetoprotein, des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin, alpha-fetoprotein-L3, angiogenetic factors (vascular endothelial growth factor, hypoxia inducible factor-1a) and immune parameters before and after radiofrequency ablation or transarterial chemoembolization.

TNM/Okuda/Barcelona/UNOS/CLIP International Multidisciplinary Classification of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: concepts, perspectives, and radiologic implications

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major health problem worldwide. Moreover, the liver cancer field is evolving rapidly, with early diagnosis, new therapies, and a better understanding of HCC's biology and development. Accurate staging is important for determining prognosis and selecting the most appropriate treatment for each patient. Surgical intervention remains the most effective treatment for HCC and is the only potentially curative modality. However, in HCC patients, overall survival is also independently affected by underlying liver disease and cirrhosis, which in turn affect the applicability and efficacy of treatment. Although several staging classification and prognostic scoring systems have been proposed for determining the stage and prognosis of HCC, no consensus exists on the best classification method. The most common staging classification systems include tumor-node-metastasis stage, Okuda staging, Cancer of the Liver Italian Program score, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging classification, the French, the Chinese University Prognostic Index, Japanese Integrated Scoring, and the Tokyo score. Radiologists should be aware of the different staging classification systems for HCC and familiar with the system relevant to their respective referring clinicians, as it will provide pertinent radiological evaluation for multidisciplinary management.

Is 3-Tesla Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI with diffusion-weighted imaging superior to 64-slice contrast-enhanced CT for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma?

Objectives

To compare 64-slice contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) with 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using Gd-EOB-DTPA for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and evaluate the utility of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in this setting.

Methods

3-phase-liver-CT was performed in fifty patients (42 male, 8 female) with suspected or proven HCC. The patients were subjected to a 3-Tesla-MRI-examination with Gd-EOB-DTPA and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) at b-values of 0, 50 and 400 s/mm². The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)-value was determined for each lesion detected in DWI. The histopathological report after resection or biopsy of a lesion served as the gold standard, and a surrogate of follow-up or complementary imaging techniques in combination with clinical and paraclinical parameters was used in unresected lesions. Diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were evaluated for each technique.

Results

MRI detected slightly more lesions that were considered suspicious for HCC per patient compared to CT (2.7 versus 2.3, respectively). ADC-measurements in HCC showed notably heterogeneous values with a median of 1.2±0.5×10⁻³ mm²/s (range from 0.07±0.1 to 3.0±0.1×10⁻³ mm²/s). MRI showed similar diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, and positive and negative predictive values compared to CT (AUC 0.837, sensitivity 92%, PPV 80% and NPV 90% for MRI vs. AUC 0.798, sensitivity 85%, PPV 79% and NPV 82% for CT; not significant). Specificity was 75% for both techniques.

Conclusions

Our study did not show a statistically significant difference in detection in detection of HCC between MRI and CT. Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI tended to detect more lesions per patient compared to contrast-enhanced CT; therefore, we would recommend this modality as the first-choice imaging method for the detection of HCC and therapeutic decisions. However, contrast-enhanced CT was not inferior in our study, so that it can be a useful image modality for follow-up examinations.

Inferior right hepatic vein-preserving major right hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with significant fibrosis or cirrhosis

BACKGROUND

Liver resection represents a most effective treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The extent of hepatectomy for HCC involves maintaining a tricky balance between radical resection of tumors and preservation of sufficient liver parenchyma. Generally, removal of the right hepatic vein often involves resection of the whole posterior right lobe, which may prevent patients with impaired liver function from maintaining a functional reserve and could also limit the future liver remnant from curative hepatectomy. As a common anatomic variation, preservation of the inferior right hepatic vein (IRHV) may enable preservation of liver segment 6, even when the right hepatic vein has to be removed. In the present study, we report our experience with IRHV-preserving major right hepatectomy.

METHODS

From February 2009 to December 2011, eight trisegmentectomies 5-7-8 and two segmentectomies 4-5-7-8 were performed with the IRHV-sparing technique on patients with HCC and significant fibrosis or cirrhosis. Data including demographic information, preoperative evaluations, postoperative outcomes, and follow-up results were collected and evaluated.

RESULTS

All patients survived and recovered from hepatectomy. The incidence of complications was higher in cirrhotic patients. The 1-year overall survival rate was 80 %, and the 1-year disease free survival rate was 60 %.

CONCLUSIONS

IRHV-preserving major right hepatectomy increases the resectability of HCC. Intraoperative ultrasonography is recommended to facilitate protection of the IRHV. This technique is safe with careful preoperative evaluation and meticulous perioperative care. The short-term outcome of IRHV-preserving liver resections is satisfactory.

Multimodal treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the most common liver cancer with an increasing incidence and it accounts for the third most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Even though the clinical diagnosis and management of HCC improved significantly in the last decades, this malignant disease is still associated with a poor prognosis. It has to be distinguished between patients with HCCs, which developed from liver cirrhosis, and patients without underlying liver cirrhosis as classification systems, prognosis estimation and therapy recommendations differ in-between. In case of HCC in patients with liver cirrhosis in Europe, treatment allocation and prognosis estimation are mainly based on the Barcelona-Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system. Based on this staging system different surgical, interventional radiological/sonographical and non-interventional procedures have been established for the multimodal treatment of HCC. The BCLC classification system represents a decision guidance; however because of its limitations in selected patients treatment allocation should be determined on an individualized rather than a guideline-based medicine by a multidisciplinary board in order to offer the best treatment option for each patient. This review summarizes the current management of HCC and illustrates controversial areas of therapeutic strategies.

Risk factors of hospital mortality after re-laparotomy for post-hepatectomy hemorrhage

BACKGROUND

Post-hepatectomy hemorrhage (PHH) requiring re-laparotomy is a life-threatening situation and is associated with a considerably high hospital mortality rate. However, risk factors of hospital mortality in patients with this condition have not yet been investigated.

METHODS

The perioperative data of 258 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent re-laparotomy for PHH from 1997 to 2011 were retrospectively reviewed and evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses to identify risk factors of hospital mortality.

RESULT

Hospital death occurred in 43 patients between 16 h and 40 days after re-laparotomy, and the overall mortality rate was 16.7 %. The median time lag between first recognition of active bleeding and re-laparotomy was 6 h (range 0.5-34 h). The mortality of patients undergoing late re-laparotomy (≥6 h) was much higher than those undergoing early re-laparotomy (<6 h) (25 vs 8.6 %; P = 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed early time period (1997-2004) (P = 0.040), liver cirrhosis (P = 0.025), ineffective hemostasis during re-laparotomy due to coagulopathy (P = 0.038), late re-laparotomy (≥6 h) (P = 0.032), postoperative liver failure (P = 0.001), and postoperative acute renal failure requiring hemodialysis (P = 0.024) were independent risk factors of hospital mortality.

CONCLUSION

Immediate re-laparotomy is a key factor to reduce hospital mortality for patients with active bleeding after partial hepatectomy. More care should be taken in those patients who develop acute liver failure and/or serious acute renal failure after re-laparotomy.

Propensity score analysis demonstrated the prognostic advantage of anatomical liver resection in hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: To compare the prognoses of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients that underwent anatomic liver resection (AR) or non-anatomic liver resection (NAR) using propensity score-matched populations.

METHODS: Between January 2002 and December 2010, 268 consecutive HCC patients, including 110 and 158 patients that underwent AR and NAR, respectively, were retrospectively enrolled in this study. Forty-four patients from each group were selected and matched using logistic multivariate analysis followed by propensity score analysis.

RESULTS: In the whole analysis set, the histological background of the liver, liver function, and tumor marker levels differed significantly among the groups. Although the overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival rates of the two groups did not differ significantly in the whole analysis set, the OS of the AR group was significantly longer than that of the NAR group after propensity matching (76.2 ± 6.3 mo vs 58.9 ± 6.3 mo; P = 0.0039). Although AR (HR = 0.456, P = 0.039) was found to be a prognostic factor in the univariate analysis, only vascular invasion (HR = 0.228, P = 0.002) and the hepatocyte growth factor level (HR = 52.366, P = 0.035) were subsequently found to be independent prognostic factors.

CONCLUSION: AR conveys a survival advantage over NAR in specific subpopulations of HCC patients with tumors of less than 5 cm in diameter, single tumor, and good liver function.

Impact of aging on morbidity and mortality after liver resection: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Surgery involving elderly patients is becoming increasingly common due to the rapid aging of societies all over the world. The objective of this study was to elucidate the prognostic differences between elderly and young patients who undergo liver resection. A systematic review based on the PRISMA flow diagram was conducted. Ovid Medline and PubMed were used to search for relevant literature published between January 2000 and March 2013, and the modified MINORS score was used to assess the methodological quality. In cases of hepatocellular carcinoma and miscellaneous liver tumors, the morbidity and mortality rate did not differ significantly between the elderly and young patients. For patients with colorectal metastatic liver cancer, the mortality of the young patients was 2.7 times lower than that of elderly patients. Our review of high-quality retrospective studies was able to elucidate the clinical risks of age on the outcomes after liver surgery in specific patient populations.

Viral status at the time of liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: a modern predictor of longterm survival

OBJECTIVES

The impact of pre-transplant hepatitis B virus (HBV) and/or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is not well described. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that viral status is an independent predictor of retransplantation rates, graft survival (GS) and overall survival (OS) in patients undergoing liver transplantation for HCC.

METHODS

Patients with HCC were identified from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network database (2005-2012), and categorized by viral status according to these categories: HBV-/HCV-; HBV+/HCV-; HBV-/HCV+, and HBV+/HCV+.

RESULTS

Of 7742 patients transplanted for HCC, 7060 had known HBV and HCV status. Five-year GS and OS were highest in recipients who were HBV+/HCV-, at 75% and 78%, respectively, compared with patients who were HBV-/HCV- (GS = 63%, OS = 66%), HBV-/HCV+ (GS = 64%, OS = 60%) or HBV+/HCV+ (GS = 60%, OS = 62%). In multivariable analyses, HBV-/HCV+ patients were more likely than HBV+/HCV- patients to undergo repeat transplantation. Patients who were HBV-/HCV+ also had poorer GS and OS than both HBV-/HCV- and HBV+/HCV- patients. Other independent predictors of poorer OS included older age, higher Model for End-stage Liver Disease score, African-American race, and diabetes. The few HBV+/HCV+ patients (n = 138) showed trends toward fewer retransplantations, prolonged GS and prolonged OS compared with HBV-/HCV+ patients. In adjusted models, antiviral medications did not impact GS or OS.

CONCLUSIONS

In the era of modern selection criteria, viral status is an independent predictor of outcome following liver transplantation for HCC. Both HBV-/HCV- and HBV+/HCV- patients have superior GS and OS compared with HBV-/HCV+ patients.

Galangin inhibits proliferation of HepG2 cells by activating AMPK via increasing the AMP/TAN ratio in a LKB1-independent manner

Galangin, a flavonol derived from Alpinia officinarum Hance and used as food additives in southern China, induces apoptosis and autophagy to suppress the proliferation of HepG2 cells. In this study, we demonstrated that galangin induced autophagy by increasing the ratio of AMP/TAN in HepG2 cells. It stimulated the phosphorylation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and LKB1, but inhibited the phosphorylation of AKT and mTOR. Inhibition of AMPK activation suppressed the dephosphorylation of mTOR to block galangin-induced autophagy. AMPK activation by galangin appeared to be independent of the LKB1 signaling pathway because the down-regulation of LKB1 by its siRNA failed to affect galangin-induced autophagy. Collectively, the findings demonstrated a novel mechanism of how galangin induces autophagy via activating AMPK in a LKB1- independent manner. The induction of autophagy can thus reflect the anti-proliferation effect of galangin in HCC cells.

Transplantation vs resection for hepatocellular carcinoma with compensated liver function after downstaging therapy

AIM: Our study aimed to compare the results of liver transplantation (LT) and liver resection (LR) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that met the Milan criteria after successful downstaging therapy.

METHODS: From February 2004 to August 2010, a consecutive series of 102 patients were diagnosed with advanced-stage HCC that met the modified UCSF down-staging protocol inclusion criteria. All of the patients accepted various down-staging therapies. The types and numbers of treatments were tailored to each patient according to the tumor characteristics, location, liver function and response. After various downstaging therapies, 66 patients had tumor characteristics that met the Milan criteria; 31 patients accepted LT in our center, and 35 patients accepted LR. The baseline characteristics, down-staging protocols, postoperative complications, overall survival and tumor free survival rate, and tumor recurrence rate were compared between the two groups. Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to estimate the long-term overall survival and tumor-free survival rate. Meanwhile, a Cox proportional hazards model was used for the multivariate analyses of overall survival and disease-free survival rate.

RESULTS: No significant difference was observed between the LT and LR groups with respect to the down-staging protocol, target tumor characteristics, and baseline patient characteristics. Fifteen patients suffered various complications after LT, and 8 patients had complications after LR. The overall complication rate for the LT group was 48.4%, which was significantly higher than the LR group (22.9%) (P = 0.031). The overall in-hospital mortality in hospital for the LT group was 12.9% vs 2.9% for the LR group (P = 0.172). The overall patient survival rates at 1-, 3- and 5-years were 87.1%, 80.6% and 77.4%, respectively, after LT and 91.4%, 77.1% and 68.6%, respectively, after LR (P = 0.498). The overall 1-, 3- and 5-year tumor recurrence-free rates were also comparable (P = 0.656). Poorer tumor differentiation (P = 0.041) and a higher post-downstage alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level (> 400 ng/mL) (P = 0.015) were the two independent risk factors for tumor recurrence in the LT and LR patients who accepted successful down-staging therapy.

CONCLUSION: Due to the higher postoperative morbidity and similar survival and tumor recurrence-free rates, LR might offer better or similar outcome over LT, but a larger number and further randomized studies may be needed in the future for drawing any positive conclusions.

Outcomes of central bisectionectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Central bisectionectomy (resection of Couinaud segments IV, V and VIII) for malignant or benign disease poses a technical challenge to the surgeon but if feasible, has significant benefits in terms of conserving liver volume and options for future intervention. This study reviews a cohort of patients who underwent this procedure; outlines the indications, optimal operative technique as well as both short- and long-term outcomes.

METHODS

A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database was performed. Pre-operative clinicopathological data, operative details and post-operative outcomes including overall and disease-free survival were analysed.

RESULTS

Between 1989 and 2009, 21 patients underwent a central bisectionectomy. All procedures were performed for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). All patients underwent a R0 resection with a median resection margin of 5 mm (1-15 mm). The 1-, 3- and 5-year disease-free survivals were 65%, 34.8% and 34.8%, and the corresponding overall survival rates were 90.5%, 66.8% and 66.8%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

These data support the use of a central bisectionectomy in selected cases in the management of HCC. With the use of a meticulous operative technique and adherence to surgical oncological principles, satisfactory long-term outcomes were achievable.

Surgical resection in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with minimal background fibrosis: a strategy in the era of organ shortage

BACKGROUND

Surgical therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represent the potentially curative approaches and provide patients the greatest survival advantage. We sought to examine the outcomes of patients with HCC treated with surgical resection, transplantation, and local ablation.

METHODS

The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database was queried for all patients with nonmetastatic HCC from 2004 to 2007 who underwent local ablation (LA), segmental resection (SR), hemihepatectomy or extended resection (ER), or transplantation (TP).

RESULTS

Of 16,209 patients with HCC, 3,989 (24.6 %) met criteria for inclusion and received therapies: 1,550 LA (39 %), 703 SR (18 %), 619 ER (16 %), and 1,117 TP (28 %). AFP was elevated in 69 % (2,026 of 2,921), and fibrosis grade 0-4 was noted in 32 % (368 of 1,156). The 3-year survival by procedure was 34 % (LA), 50 % (SR), 54 % (ER), and 74 % (TP), p = .001. In patients with minimal fibrosis, 1-year survival for patients undergoing resection was similar to TP (85 vs. 92 %, p = .346), but greater than LA (69 %, p = .001).

DISCUSSION

Survival after surgical resection for HCC patients without extensive fibrosis appears to be superior to ablation and non-inferior to transplantation. In an era of organ shortage, transplantation may be better reserved for patients with cirrhosis and/or unresectable disease.

Curcumin and liver disease

Liver diseases pose a major medical problem worldwide and a wide variety of herbs have been studied for the management of liver-related diseases. In this respect, curcumin has long been used in traditional medicine, and in recent years it has been the object of increasing research interest. In combating liver diseases, it seems clear that curcumin exerts a hypolipidic effect, which prevents the fatty acid accumulation in the hepatocytes that may result from metabolic imbalances, and which may cause nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Another crucial protective activity of curcumin, not only in the context of chronic liver diseases but also regarding carcinogenesis and other age-related processes, is its potent antioxidant activity, which affects multiple processes and signaling pathways. The effects of curcumin on NF-κβ are crucial to our understanding of the potent hepatoprotective role of this herb-derived micronutrient. Because curcumin is a micronutrient that is closely related to cellular redox balance, its properties and activity give rise to a series of molecular reactions that in every case and biological situation affect the mitochondria.