Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Diagnosis

Novel prognostic biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a heterogeneous cancer with variable outcomes after treatment. Prognosis of HCC cannot be accurately predicted by current clinical staging systems. Development of prognostic biomarkers is critical to improve treatment outcome. Recent studies indicate that inflammatory and immunological markers might provide reliable prognostic classification in HCC.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Sieghart, W. et al. A single determination of C-reactive protein at the time of diagnosis predicts long-term outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatology http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hep.26057.

  2. Fu, J. et al. The impairment of CD4+ cytotoxic T cells predicts poor survival and high recurrence rates in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatology http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hep.26054.

  3. Hashimoto, K. et al. The impact of preoperative serum C-reactive protein on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer 103, 1856–1864 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. An, H. J. et al. Serum C-reactive protein is a useful biomarker to predict outcomes after liver transplantation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Liver Transpl. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lt.23512.

  5. Jang, J. W. et al. Serum interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein as a prognostic indicator in hepatocellular carcinoma. Cytokine http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cyto.2012.07.117.

  6. Fu, J. et al. Increased regulatory T cells correlate with CD8 T-cell impairment and poor survival in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Gastroenterology 132, 2328–2339 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Zhou, J. et al. Increased intratumoral regulatory T cells are related to intratumoral macrophages and poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Int. J. Cancer 125, 1640–1648 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Pedroza-Gonzalez, A. et al. Activated tumor-infiltrating CD4+ regulatory T cells restrain antitumor immunity in patients with primary or metastatic liver cancer. Hepatology http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hep.26013.

  9. Greten, T. F. et al. Low-dose cyclophosphamide treatment impairs regulatory T cells and unmasks AFP-specific CD4+ T-cell responses in patients with advanced HCC. J. Immunother. 33, 211–218 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Pang, R. W. et al. Biology of hepatocellular carcinoma. Ann. Surg. Oncol. 15, 962–971 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge grant support from the Strategic Research Theme Grant of the Centre for Cancer Research of the Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ronnie T. P. Poon.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pang, R., Poon, R. Novel prognostic biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 9, 691–692 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2012.208

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2012.208

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing