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Molecular portrait of high alpha-fetoprotein in hepatocellular carcinoma: implications for biomarker-driven clinical trials.

ABSTRACT: The clinical utility of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is widely recognised. However, a clear understanding of the mechanisms of AFP overexpression and the molecular traits of patients with AFP-high tumours are not known. We assessed transcriptome data, whole-exome sequencing data and DNA methylome profiling of 520 HCC patients from two independent cohorts to identify distinct molecular traits of patients with AFP-high tumours (serum concentration > 400 ng/ml), which represents an accepted prognostic cut-off and a predictor of response to ramucirumab. Those AFP-high tumours (18% of resected cases) were characterised by significantly lower AFP promoter methylation (p < 0.001), significant enrichment of progenitor-cell features (CK19, EPCAM), higher incidence of BAP1 oncogene mutations (8.5% vs 1.6%) and lower mutational rates of CTNNB1 (14% vs 30%). Specifically, AFP-high tumours displayed significant activation of VEGF signalling (p < 0.001), which might provide the rationale for the reported benefit of ramucirumab in this subgroup of patients.

SUBMITTER: Montal R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6738090 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Molecular portrait of high alpha-fetoprotein in hepatocellular carcinoma: implications for biomarker-driven clinical trials.

Montal Robert R Andreu-Oller Carmen C Bassaganyas Laia L Esteban-Fabró Roger R Moran Sebastián S Montironi Carla C Moeini Agrin A Pinyol Roser R Peix Judit J Cabellos Laia L Villanueva Augusto A Sia Daniela D Mazzaferro Vincenzo V Esteller Manel M Llovet Josep M JM

British journal of cancer 20190709 4

The clinical utility of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is widely recognised. However, a clear understanding of the mechanisms of AFP overexpression and the molecular traits of patients with AFP-high tumours are not known. We assessed transcriptome data, whole-exome sequencing data and DNA methylome profiling of 520 HCC patients from two independent cohorts to identify distinct molecular traits of patients with AFP-high tumours (serum concentration > ...[more]

PMID: 31285588

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Project description:BackgroundScreening of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) diagnosis is the greatest challenge for hepatologists. Alpha?-fetoprotein (AFP) is the most common non-invasive biomarker used in HCC diagnosis.Objectives and AimsTo make a comparison between the new biomarker Golgi protein 73 (GP73) versus the standard biomarker AFP in the diagnosis of HCC.MethodsOur study was a case–control study, and 60 patients were included in the study. They were divided into two groups: ?1) HCC patients with either chronic HBV or HCV infection (n=30); and ?2) ?non-HCC patients with HBV or HCV infection who had either chronic hepatitis or liver cirrhosis (n=30). In addition, 30 healthy volunteers were included as a control group. Patients were subjected to liver function tests, kidney function tests, serum Golgi protein 73 and AFP levels. Imaging diagnosis of HCC was done by ?computed ?tomography (CT) or ?magnetic ?resonance ?imaging (MRI) based on American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) ?practice ?guidelines.ResultsStatistically significant differences between groups in terms of serum AFP (p<0.001) and GP73 (p<0.001) were found. Non-HCC patients (chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis) and HCC patients had significantly higher AFP and GP73 than the control group. In addition, patients with HCC had significantly higher AFP and GP73 than chronic hepatitis and cirrhotic patients. GP73 had higher diagnostic performance than AFP. At a cut-off value of ?8.4 ng/mL, GP73 yielded a sensitivity of 86.7% and specificity of 89% for the discrimination between HCC and normal populations. Similarly, at a cut-off value of ?8.45 ng/mL, GP73 yielded a sensitivity of 83.3% and specificity of 84% for the discrimination between HCC patients and non?-HCC patients. On the other hand, AFP at a cut-off value of ?2.4 ng/mL yielded a sensitivity of 75.4% and specificity of 90% for the discrimination between HCC and normal populations?; and at a cut-off value of ?20.85 ng/mL, AFP yielded a sensitivity of 72.2% and specificity of 86.2% for the discrimination between HCC and non-HCC patients.ConclusionGolgi protein 73 is a promising and accurate biomarker for early detection of HCC.

Project description:serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was routinely employed as a tumor marker for screening, diagnosis, and treatment follow-up of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, a substantial proportion of HCC patients had normal AFP level even at an advanced disease status. Few studies to date had tried to explore the nature and behavior of this normal AFP HCC (N-HCC). The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinicopathological characteristics and survival outcome of N-HCC after operation. In addition, potential tumor markers for N-HCC were also sought in an attempt to augment diagnostic ability. between 2005 and 2015, patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who were treated with hepatectomy in Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Linkou branch were divided into two groups according to their preoperative serum AFP level (<15 ng/mL: NHCC; ≥15 ng/mL: abnormal AFP HCC (A-HCC)). Patient demographic data and clinicopathological variables were collected. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression multivariate analyses were performed to identify significant risk factors for disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) for N-HCC. ELISA and immunohistochemical (IHC) studies were employed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of various tumor markers. a total of 1616 patients (78% male) who underwent liver resection for HCC were included in this study. Of them, 761 patients (47.1%) were N-HCC. N-HCC patients were significantly older with more comorbidities and less hepatitis virus infections. Furthermore, N-HCC had fewer early recurrences (49.6% vs. 60.8%, p < 0.001) and better DFS (44.6 months vs. 23.6 months, p < 0.001) and OS (94.5 months vs. 81.7 months, p < 0.001). Both ELISA and IHC studies demonstrated that glypican-3 (GPC3) would be a promising diagnostic tumor marker for N-HCC. N-HCC patients were significantly older and had less hepatitis virus infections or cirrhosis. Their tumors tended to be smaller, less vascular invaded, and well-differentiated. The carcinogenesis of N-HCC may thus not be identical to that of typical HCC. GPC3 would be a promising tumor marker for diagnosing N-HCC. Further study is warranted to validate our findings.

Dataset Information

Molecular portrait of high alpha-fetoprotein in hepatocellular carcinoma: implications for biomarker-driven clinical trials.

Publications

Molecular portrait of high alpha-fetoprotein in hepatocellular carcinoma: implications for biomarker-driven clinical trials.

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