Current status and new directions for hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis

Jinqi Tu; Bo Wang; Xiaoming Wang; Kugeng Huo; Wanting Hu; Rongli Zhang; Jinyao Li; Shijie Zhu; Qionglin Liang; Shuxin Han

doi:10.1016/j.livres.2024.12.001

Liver Research ›› 2024, Vol. 8 ›› Issue (4) :218 -236. DOI: 10.1016/j.livres.2024.12.001

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research-article

Current status and new directions for hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis

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^a Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Biological Resources and Genetic Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China

^b Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Afﬁliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College (Yijishan Hospital of Wannan Medical College), Wuhu, Anhui, China

^c Animal Experimental Center, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China

^d Cyagen Biosciences (Guangzhou) Inc., Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

^e MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Beijing Key Lab of Microanalytical Methods & Instrumentation, Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

^f Department of Medicine, Institute for Transformative Molecular Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA

^g Cardiovascular Research Institute, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA

^h Department of Oncology, Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China

^* The First Afﬁliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College (Yijishan Hospital of Wannan Medical College), Wuhu, Anhui, China. E-mail addresses: wxm6901@aliyun.com (Xiaoming Wang)

^** Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Biological Resources and Genetic Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China.E-mail addresses: hansx@xju.edu.cn (Shuxin Han)

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Abstract

Liver cancer ranks as the sixth most common cancer globally, with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounting for approximately 75%-85% of cases. Most patients present with moderately advanced disease, while those with advanced HCC face limited and ineffective treatment options. Despite diagnostic efforts, no ideal tumor marker exists to date, highlighting the urgent clinical need for improved early detection of HCC. A key research objective is the development of assays that target specific pathways involved in HCC progression. This review explores the pathological origin and development of HCC, providing insights into the mechanistic rationale, clinical statistics, and the advantages and limitations of commonly used diagnostic tumor markers. Additionally, it discusses the potential of emerging biomarkers for early diagnosis and offers a brief overview of relevant assay methodologies. This review aims to summarize existing markers and investigate new ones, providing a basis for subsequent research.

Keywords

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) / Tumor marker / Early detection / Pathological origin and development

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Jinqi Tu, Bo Wang, Xiaoming Wang, Kugeng Huo, Wanting Hu, Rongli Zhang, Jinyao Li, Shijie Zhu, Qionglin Liang, Shuxin Han. Current status and new directions for hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis. Liver Research, 2024, 8(4): 218-236 DOI:10.1016/j.livres.2024.12.001

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Authors’ contributions

Jinqi Tu: Writing e review & editing, Writing e original draft, Resources, Methodology, Conceptualization. Bo Wang: Writing e review & editing, Writing e original draft, Resources, Methodol-ogy, Conceptualization. Xiaoming Wang: Writing e review & editing, Writing e original draft, Methodology, Funding acquisi-tion, Conceptualization. Kugeng Huo: Writing e review & editing, Writing e original draft, Methodology, Conceptualization. Wanting Hu: Writing e review & editing, Writing e original draft, Methodology, Conceptualization. Rongli Zhang: Writing e review & editing, Methodology, Conceptualization. Jinyao Li: Writing e review & editing, Writing e original draft, Methodology, Conceptualization. Shijie Zhu: Writing e review & editing, Methodology, Conceptualization. Qionglin Liang: Writing e re-view & editing, Methodology, Conceptualization. Shuxin Han: Writing e review & editing, Resources, Methodology, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization.

Declaration of competing interest

The company afﬁliated with the authors did not sponsor this research. Any author’ s position at any company has no influence on the study. Personal opinions do not represent the views of the company. The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foun-dation of China (No. 32171167), Anhui Province Educational Natural Science Project (No. 2023AH040254), and Tianchi Talent Intro-duction Plan Innovative Leader of Xinjiang Ugyur Autonomous Region （No. 51052401403).

Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livres.2024.12.001.

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