Advances in the early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent cancers globally. In contrast to the declining death rates observed for all other common cancers such as breast, lung, and prostate cancers, the death rates for HCC continue to increase by ~2–3% per year because HCC is frequently diagnosed late and there is no curative therapy for an advanced HCC. The early diagnosis of HCC is truly a big challenge. Over the past years, the early diagnosis of HCC has relied on surveillance with ultrasonography (US) and serological assessments of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). However, the specificity and sensitivity of US/AFP is not satisfactory enough to detect early onset HCC. Recent technological advancements offer hope for early HCC diagnosis. Herein, we review the progress made in HCC diagnostics, with a focus on emerging imaging techniques and biomarkers for early disease diagnosis.

Prevention of hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma

“…The pooled AUROC curve was 0.94 (95%CI: 0.91-0.95) [102] . In the future, the combination of different imaging modalities and non-invasive biomarkers are likely to improve the ability of early HCC detection [103] .…”

On the Electrochemical Detection of Alpha-Fetoprotein Using Aptamers: DNA Isothermal Amplification Strategies to Improve the Performance of Weak Aptamers

“…However, AFP alone is not enough for HCC diagnosis, screening or surveillance [4]. Its suboptimal performance, that is, increased levels in benign liver pathologies and teratomas or low levels in small HCC [5], has prompted that US and European guidelines allow HCC surveillance with or without AFP control, in contrast to Asian guidelines that recommend its use in combination with imaging techniques or even other biomarkers [2]. Nonetheless, it remains as a supplemental test when only low-quality or inconclusive images are available.…”

Overexpression of chaperonin containing TCP1 subunit 7 has diagnostic and prognostic value for hepatocellular carcinoma.

“…We evaluated the diagnostic e ciency of CCT7 using independent datasets in the GEO and TCGA database. The ROC curve analysis showed that CCT7 has a higher AUC value than AFP, the current golden biomarker of diagnosis for HCC [44,45]. In addition, the positive predictive value of CCT7 was better than AFP.…”