Background Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma is a rare distinctive variant of liver cancer with unique epidemiological and pathological characteristics, characterized by dense lymphocyte infiltration. It can be divided into lymphoepithelioma-like hepatocellular carcinoma and lymphoepithelioma-like intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. Existing research shows that the prognosis of this tumor is good. To date, only 101 cases have been reported. Case presentation The first patient was a 62-year-old Chinese man with hepatitis B virus infection who presented with a single lesion in the liver. The patient underwent surgical treatment and was discharged on the 4th day. The patient was diagnosed with combined lymphoepithelioma-like hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma; he has been alive for 15 months. The second patient was a 63-year-old Chinese woman with right upper abdominal pain and hepatitis B virus infection. The imaging examination revealed a single lesion in the liver. The patient underwent surgical treatment and was discharged 1 week later. The patient was diagnosed with lymphoepithelioma-like hepatocellular carcinoma and was considered to have recurrence in the lymph nodes approximately 2 years after the operation. The patient underwent local radiotherapy; she has been alive for 60 months. The third patient was a 50-year-old Chinese man with hepatitis B virus infection who presented with a single lesion in the liver and two enlarged lymph nodes. The patient received liver puncture before surgery to indicate lymph node metastasis and experienced local recurrence after liver resection. The patient underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The patient was diagnosed with lymphoepithelioma-like hepatocellular carcinoma. The patient was deceased at 24-month follow-up. Conclusions This article reports 3 cases without Epstein-Barr virus and reviews the current literature, which suggests even mixed pathological type or locally advanced cases of LELC with lymph node metastasis and postoperative recurrence should be actively treated for a longer survival period.

Objective A prospective randomized control study investigated the feasibility and efficacy of adjuvant radiotherapy on patients with central hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after narrow-margin hepatectomy (<1 cm). This study presents an updated 10-year real-world evidence to further characterize the role of adjuvant radiotherapy. Methods Patients with central HCC after narrow-margin hepatectomy (<1 cm) were prospectively assigned to adjuvant radiotherapy group and control group. Patients’ outcome, adverse events, long-term recurrence and survival rates were investigated. Results The 1-, 5-, and 10-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates were 81.0%, 43.9%, and 38.7%, respectively in adjuvant radiotherapy group and 71.7%, 35.8%, and 24.2%, respectively in control group (log-rank test, P=0.09). The 1-, 5-, and 10-year overall survival (OS) rates were 96.6%, 54.7%, and 42.8%, respectively in adjuvant radiotherapy group and 90.2%, 55.1%, and 30.0%, respectively in control group (log-rank test, P=0.20). The 1-, 5-, and 10-year RFS rates for patients with small HCC (≤5 cm) were 91.1%, 51.6%, and 48.4%, respectively in adjuvant radiotherapy group and 80.0%, 36.6%, and 26.6%, respectively in control group (log-rank test, P=0.03). Landmark analysis demonstrated that patients with small HCC in adjuvant radiotherapy group had a significantly improved OS in second five years after treatment in comparison to patients in control group (log-rank test, P=0.05). Conclusions Our updated results showed a sustained clinical benefit on reducing recurrence, improving long-term survival for small central HCC by adjuvant radiotherapy after narrow-margin hepatectomy. Long-term survival data also indicated that hepatectomy is an optimal treatment for selected patients with central HCC.

Background: The presence of lymph node (LN) metastases is associated with poor survival outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Because of the low probability of LN metastasis, research into the prognoses of these patients is difficult. The present study developed a nomogram model to predict the prognosis of HCC patients with LN metastasis. Methods: This retrospective, noninterventional study enrolled patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 2010 to 2015. The following inclusion criteria were used: (I) site recode ICD-O-3 (International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, Third Edition) of 8170-8175 and malignant histological behavior; (II) seventh edition American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage N1; (III) older than 18 years; and (IV) available information. Potential prognostic factors were collected from the SEER database; the primary outcomes of interest were overall survival (OS) and disease status. Cox and Lasso regression were used to investigate independent prognostic factors for survival. A prognostic nomogram using these independent risk factors was constructed. The concordance index (C-index) and calibration curves were used to evaluate the model's predictive performance. The clinical benefit was assessed via decision curve analysis (DCA). Results: Patients were randomized into a training group (944 patients) and a validation group (402 patients) in a 70:30 ratio. Grade, T stage, liver surgery, chemotherapy, radiation recode, alpha-fetoprotein level, fibrosis score, tumor size group, and M stage were selected as independent prognostic factors, and a nomogram was developed using these variables. The C-indices of the training and validation groups were 0.70 and 0.73, respectively. Calibration curves for the probability of survival showed good agreement. DCA indicated that the nomogram had positive net benefits. Conclusions: The constructed nomogram may assist clinicians in predicting the prognosis of HCC patients with LN metastasis and may provide a rationale for treatment options.

Backgrounds This is the first study to build and evaluate a predictive model for early relapse after R0 resection in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with microvascular invasion (MVI). Methods The consecutive HCC patients with MVI who underwent hepatectomy in Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Science from Jan 2014 to June 2019 were retrospectively enrolled and randomly allocated into a derivation (N = 286) and validation cohort (N = 120) in a ratio of 7:3. Cox regression and Logistic regression analyses were performed and a predictive model for postoperative early-relapse were developed. Results A total of 406 HCC patients with MVI were included in our work. Preoperative blood alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level, hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) status, MVI classification, largest tumor diameter, the status of serosal invasion, number of tumors, and the status of satellite nodules were incorporated to construct a model. The concordance index (C-index) was 0.737 and 0.736 in the derivation and validation cohort, respectively. The calibration curves showed a good agreement between actual observation and nomogram prediction. The C-index of the nomogram was obviously higher than those of the two traditional HCC staging systems. Conclusion We have developed and validated a prediction model for postoperative early-relapse in HCC patient with MVI after R0 resection.

Background Liver cancer as the main leading cancer has caused heavy burdens globally. The prognosis of liver cancer is closely related with postoperative nutrition support. Corn oligopeptides (COPs) are protein hydrolysates produced by enzymatic treatments, which have shown potential bioactivities, such as inhibiting angiotensin I-converting enzyme, resisting lipid peroxidation and anti-oxidant. However, the correlation between COPs and liver cancer patients is still unknown and the potential mechanism of COPs on liver cancer is unclear as well. The aim of this study was to assess effects of 7-day intervention of COPs after surgery on liver function and serum metabolic profiles of liver cancer patients. Methods Patients were assigned into COPs intervention group (n=50) and control group (n=91) for 7 days. Investigations were scheduled at 1 st day and 7 th day after liver resection surgery respectively, mainly including anthropometric, biochemical indexes and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis. Results Seven-day supplementation of COPs on early post-surgery liver cancer patients down-regulated levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin and up-regulated prothrombin time activity and prealbumin levels. LC/MS analysis revealed metabolic signatures including regulation of 16 metabolites, which was closely related with two metabolic pathways (nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, fatty acid metabolism). Conclusions COPs supplementation has displayed the potentials on alleviating the injury of liver function and it may be due to regulation of fatty acid metabolism, nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, lipid peroxidation and anti-inflammatory action. More researches are warranted in future to confirm the exact mechanisms.