ObjectiveTo investigate the expression change characteristic of stemness-related markers for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and to discuss the relationship between stemness-related markers and clinicopathologic characteristics of HCC.MethodsWe collected 25 recurrent HCC patients who also had the first liver resection for HCC in Sichuan Cancer Hospital from Jan. 2010 to Oct. 2018. Immunohistochemistry was used to compare expressions of CD133, CD90, CD117, and epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) in HCC tissues. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was used to detect telomere length.ResultsThe primary HCC had higher platelet count, larger tumor, less microvascular invasion (MVI), and less multiple HCC than the recurrent HCC (P<0.05), but the expressions of CD90, CD133, CD117, and EpCAM were not significantly differed after recurrence (P>0.05). The expressions of CD90, CD133, CD117, and EpCAM were not associated with tumor size, tumor number, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Staging (BCLC staging), satellite nodules, and differentiation (P>0.05). The MVI-positive group had a significantly higher expression level of EpCAM (P=0.016) and longer telomere length (P=0.001). The telomere length was longer for tumors diameter less than 5 cm (P=0.038) and poor differentiation (P=0.046). Correlation analysis found that there was no relationship between telomere length and expression levels of EpCAM (r=–0.092, P=0.513), CD90 (r=–0.235, P=0.100), CD133 (r=0.024, P=0.867), and CD117 (r=–0.277, P=0.052), but an apparent positive correlation between expression levels of EpCAM and CD133 was found (r=0.358, P=0.011). Survival analysis found that poor differentiation (P=0.003) and BCLC B–C staging (P=0.040) were the risk factors of disease-free survival for patients after first HCC resection, and BCLC B–C staging (P=0.017) and tumor diameter more than 5 cm (P=0.035) were the risk factors for recurrent HCC.ConclusionsRecurrent HCC had similar stemness-related markers expression and longer telomere length. Expression level of EpCAM and telomere length were associated with MVI.
ObjectiveTo discuss the relation between postoperative prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and serious complications (Clavien-Dindo complications classification Ⅲ to Ⅴ) after hepatectomy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MethodsAccording to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the HCC patients who underwent hepatectomy in the Sichuan Cancer Hospital from January 2009 to January 2016 were retrospectively collected. The predictive ability of postoperative PNI for postoperative complications was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the optimal cutoff value was determined. At the same time, the related factors affecting the severe complications and overall survival after hepatectomy in the HCC patients were analyzed by non-conditional logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, respectively. ResultsA total of 779 patients were enrolled, and the postoperative complications occurred in 238 (30.6%) cases, including 68 (8.7%) cases of serious complications. The postoperative PNI of all patients was 35.8±4.9, the ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the ROC curve of postoperative PNI for predicting postoperative severe complications was 0.735, the optimal cutoff value was 35.7, and the sensitivity and specificity were 0.868 and 0.518, respectively. The patients were classified as a lower postoperative PNI (≤35.7, 397 patients) and higher postoperative PNI (>35.7, 382 patients) based on the optimal cutoff value. Compared with patients with higher postoperative PNI, the patients with lower postoperative PNI had later stage of tumor (P<0.001) , worse liver function (P<0.05), and larger volume of excised liver (P<0.001), more blood loss (P<0.001), and higher proportion of intraoperative blood transfusion (P<0.001), higher serious complication (P<0.001) and mortality (P=0.039). The multivariate logistic regression analysis found that the preoperative Child-Pugh score grade B, American Society of Anesthesiologists grade Ⅲ–Ⅳ, intraoperation blood transfusion, preoperative decreased platelet level, and lower postoperative PNI increased the probability of postoperative serious complications in the HCC patients (P<0.05). The overall survival of HCC patients with higher postoperative PNI was better than that of patients with lower postoperative PNI (P=0.007), but there was no statistical difference in tumor-free survival between the two (P=0.073), and it was not fount that the postoperative PNI was associated with the overall survival of HCC patients underwent hepatectomy by the Cox proportional hazards regression multivariate analysis (P=0.276). ConclusionsThe optimal cutoff value of postoperative PNI for predicting postoperative serous complications determined in this study is 35.7, which has a higher predictive value. Patients with higher postoperative PNI and lower postoperative PNI in incidence of postoperative serious complications are obviously different, patients with higher postoperative PNI has a better overall survival than those with lower postoperative PNI.
ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutation and TERT mRNA expression on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after radical resection, and the clinicopathological factors affecting the prognosis of patients with HCC after radical resection were explored.MethodsClinical data of 212 HCC patients underwent radical resection from Jan. 2009 to Jan. 2016 in The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China were selected and analyzed. The mutations of TERT, TP53, and catenin beta 1 (CTNNB1) were detected by Sanger sequencing, and the expression of TERT mRNA was detected by SYBR. Patients were followed up routinely and their overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were recorded.ResultsThe mutation rates of the TERT promoter, TP53, and CTNNB1 gene were 17.9% (38/212), 40.1% (85/212), and 13.7% (29/212), respectively. The TERT promoter mutation had significant correlation with Child-Pugh classification and preoperative albumin value (P<0.05). Expression level of TERT mRNA had significant correlation with HBV infection, Child-Pugh classification, preoperative AST value and ALT value (P<0.05). Cox proportional hazards regression result showed that anatomical hepatectomy, tumor diameter>5 cm, and high expression of TERT mRNA were significant prognostic factors of OS (P<0.05); preoperative platelets count≤100×109/L, tumor diameter>5 cm, and high expression of TERT mRNA were significant prognostic factors of DFS (P<0.05).ConclusionFor patients after HCC surgery, high expression of TERT mRNA may be a key factor affecting the prognosis of HCC patients.