PURPOSE

Loco-regional treatments have improved the survival of patients with early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but tumor relapse is a frequent event and survival rates remain low. Moreover, conflicting evidences address early HCC patients to surgery or radiofrequency ablation (RFA), with the clinical need to find predictive non-invasive biomarkers able to guide treatment choice and define patients survival.

METHODS

Two independent case series of treatment-naïve HCC patients treated with local RFA, and a cohort of 30 HCC patients treated with liver surgery were enrolled.

On the basis of literature evidence, we customized a panel of 21 miRNAs correlated with relapse and prognosis after local curative treatment of HCC.

RESULTS

Expression levels of let-7c predict tumor relapse after RFA; we also investigated the same panel in a small cohort of HCC patients undergoing surgery, finding no statistically significance in predicting tumor relapse or survival. Moreover, interaction test indicated that let-7c expression levels are predictive for identifying a subset of patients that should be addressed to surgery.

CONCLUSION

Results from this study could predict prognosis of early HCC patients, helping to address early HCC patients to surgery or RFA treatment.

中文翻译：

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循环 microRNA 在预测接受射频消融或手术治疗的患者肝细胞癌复发中的作用

目的

局部区域治疗提高了早期肝细胞癌 (HCC) 患者的生存率，但肿瘤复发是常见事件，并且生存率仍然很低。此外，相互矛盾的证据表明早期 HCC 患者接受手术或射频消融 (RFA)，临床需要找到能够指导治疗选择和确定患者生存的预测性非侵入性生物标志物。

方法

纳入了两个独立的接受局部 RFA 治疗的初治 HCC 患者的独立病例系列，以及接受肝脏手术治疗的 30 名 HCC 患者队列。

在文献证据的基础上，我们定制了一组 21 种与 HCC 局部治愈后复发和预后相关的 miRNA。

结果

let-7c 的表达水平预测 RFA 后的肿瘤复发；我们还在一小群接受手术的 HCC 患者中调查了相同的小组，发现在预测肿瘤复发或存活方面没有统计学意义。此外，交互作用测试表明，let-7c 表达水平可预测识别应接受手术的患者子集。

结论

这项研究的结果可以预测早期 HCC 患者的预后，有助于早期 HCC 患者接受手术或 RFA 治疗。