Predictors for hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence after microwave ablation

Abstract

Aim of the study: Microwave ablation (MWA) for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a new promising modality. The prognosis after treatment is mainly linked to the recurrence. We aimed to investigate the predictive value of α-fetoprotein (AFP) score and Aurora B kinase (AURKB) in HCC recurrence after MWA. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study where 25 early-stage HCC patients (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer 0/A-B) were treated with MWA. Tumor biopsies were obtained just prior to MWA and assessed for WHO pathological grade and AURKB expression by immunohistochemistry. AFP score was calculated and a cutoff value of 2 classifies patients into high and low risk of recurrence. After achieving complete ablation, patients were followed every 3 months for 1 year by triphasic CT to detect recurrence. Results: Child-Pugh classification has no significant impact on prognosis of HCC after MWA (χ 2 = 1.924, p = 0.165). Serum AFP level and AFP score can effectively predict the response to MWA among HCC patients (χ 2 = 6.451, MC p = 0.031) (χ 2 = 9.0, p = 0.003), respectively. AFP score was strongly associated with the pathological grade of the tumor (r = 0.467, p = 0.019). AURKB was over-expressed in tumoral more than non-tumoral specimens (p < 0.001). It was correlated with the size of the tumor, the number of tumor nodules and the pathological grade of the tumor (p < 0.05) but has no role in predicting recurrence after MWA (p = 0.869). Conclusions: AFP score but not AURKB can predict the risk of recurrence of HCC after MWA.

The effect of PPP2CA expression on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and its molecular biological characteristics

“…In addition, our PPI network further identified CCNA2 as an up-regulated central gene of HCC, which is consistent with the study of Song et al (26), that is, increased messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of the CCNA2 gene is related to unfavorable RFS and OS in HCC patients. In addition, studies have also shown that AURKB has an important predictive value for the prognosis of HCC (27,28).…”