Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) is a common malignancy and now the second commonest global cause of cancer death. HCC tumorigenesis is relatively silent and patients experience late symptomatic presentation. As the opti...Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) is a common malignancy and now the second commonest global cause of cancer death. HCC tumorigenesis is relatively silent and patients experience late symptomatic presentation. As the option for curative treatments is limited to early stage cancers, diagnosis in non-symptomatic individuals is crucial. International guidelines advise regular surveillance of high-risk populations but the current tools lack sufficient sensitivity for early stage tumors on the background of a cirrhotic nodular liver. A number of novel biomarkers have now been suggested in the literature, which may reinforce the current surveillance methods. In addition, recent metabonomic and proteomic discoveries have established specific metabolite expressions in HCC, according to Warburg's phenomenon of altered energy metabolism. With clinical validation, a simple and non-invasive test from the serum or urine may be performed to diagnose HCC, particularly benefiting low resource regions where the burden of HCC is highest.展开更多
Chronic liver disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and usually develops over many years, as a result of chronic inflammation and scarring, resulting in end-stage liver disease and its complica...Chronic liver disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and usually develops over many years, as a result of chronic inflammation and scarring, resulting in end-stage liver disease and its complications. The progression of disease is characterised by ongoing inflammation and consequent fibrosis, although hepatic steatosis is increasingly being recognised as an important pathological feature of disease, rather than being simply an innocent bystander. However, the current gold standard method of quantifying and staging liver disease, histological analysis by liver biopsy, has several limitations and can have associated morbidity and even mortality. Therefore, there is a clear need for safe and noninvasive assessment modalities to determine hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis. This review covers key mechanisms and the importance of fibrosis and steatosis in the progression of liver disease. We address non-invasive imaging and blood biomarker assessments that can be used as an alternative to information gained on liver biopsy.展开更多
AIM: To establish if a distinct urinary metabolic profile could be identified in Bangladeshi hepatitis-B hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) patients compared to cirrhosis patients and controls. METHODS: Urine samples from ...AIM: To establish if a distinct urinary metabolic profile could be identified in Bangladeshi hepatitis-B hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) patients compared to cirrhosis patients and controls. METHODS: Urine samples from 42 Bangladeshi patients with HCC(39 patients with hepatitis-B HCC), 47 with cirrhosis on a background of hepatitis B, 46 with chronic hepatitis B, and seven ethnically-matched healthy controls were analyzed using nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) spectroscopy. A full dietary and medication history was recorded for each subject. The urinary NMR data were analyzed using principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial leastsquared discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) techniques. Differences in relative signal levels of the most discriminatory metabolites identified by PCA and OPLSDA were compared between subject groups using an independent samples Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance(ANOVA) test with all pairwise multiple comparisons. Within the patient subgroups, the MannWhitney U test was used to compare metabolite levels depending on hepatitis B e-antigen(HBe Ag) status and treatment with anti-viral therapy. A BenjaminiHochberg adjustment was applied to acquire the level of significance for multiple testing, with a declared level of statistical significance of P < 0.05.RESULTS: There were significant differences in age(P < 0.001), weight(P < 0.001), and body mass index(P < 0.001) across the four clinical subgroups. Serum alanine aminotransferase(ALT) was significantly higher in the HCC group compared to controls(P < 0.001); serum α-fetoprotein was generally markedly elevated in HCC compared to controls; and serum creatinine levels were significantly reduced in the HCC group compared to the cirrhosis group(P = 0.004). A threefactor PCA scores plot showed clustering of the urinary NMR spectra from the four subgroups. Metabolites that contributed to the discrimination between the subgroups included acetate, creatine, creatinine, dimethyamine(DMA), formate, glycine, hippurate, and trimethylamine-N-oxide(TMAO). A comparison of relative metabolite levels confirmed that carnitine was significantly increased in HCC; and creatinine, hippurate, and TMAO were significantly reduced in HCC compared to the other subgroups. HBe Ag negative patients showed a significant increase in creatinine(P = 0.001) compared to HBe Ag positive patients in the chronic hepatitis B subgroup, whilst HBe Ag negative patients showed a significant decrease in DMA(P = 0.004) in the cirrhosis subgroup compared to HBe Ag positive patients. There were no differences in metabolite levels in HCC patients who did or did not receive antiviral treatment. CONCLUSION: Urinary NMR changes in Bangladeshi HCC were identified, corroborating previous findings from Egypt and West Africa. These findings could form the basis for the development of a cost-effective HCC dipstick screening test.展开更多
文摘Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) is a common malignancy and now the second commonest global cause of cancer death. HCC tumorigenesis is relatively silent and patients experience late symptomatic presentation. As the option for curative treatments is limited to early stage cancers, diagnosis in non-symptomatic individuals is crucial. International guidelines advise regular surveillance of high-risk populations but the current tools lack sufficient sensitivity for early stage tumors on the background of a cirrhotic nodular liver. A number of novel biomarkers have now been suggested in the literature, which may reinforce the current surveillance methods. In addition, recent metabonomic and proteomic discoveries have established specific metabolite expressions in HCC, according to Warburg's phenomenon of altered energy metabolism. With clinical validation, a simple and non-invasive test from the serum or urine may be performed to diagnose HCC, particularly benefiting low resource regions where the burden of HCC is highest.
基金Supported by the Hammersmith Hospital Trustees Research Committee, the Medical Research Council, JEOL (UK) Ltd., Phil- ips Medical Systems and the Higher Education Funding Council for England
基金MMEC is supported by a Fellowship from the Sir Halley Stewart Trust (Cambridge, United Kingdom)SDT-R, MMEC, HKSF and RN have been participant workers in the PROLIFICA project in West Africafunded by the European Union Framework 7
文摘Chronic liver disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and usually develops over many years, as a result of chronic inflammation and scarring, resulting in end-stage liver disease and its complications. The progression of disease is characterised by ongoing inflammation and consequent fibrosis, although hepatic steatosis is increasingly being recognised as an important pathological feature of disease, rather than being simply an innocent bystander. However, the current gold standard method of quantifying and staging liver disease, histological analysis by liver biopsy, has several limitations and can have associated morbidity and even mortality. Therefore, there is a clear need for safe and noninvasive assessment modalities to determine hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis. This review covers key mechanisms and the importance of fibrosis and steatosis in the progression of liver disease. We address non-invasive imaging and blood biomarker assessments that can be used as an alternative to information gained on liver biopsy.
文摘AIM: To establish if a distinct urinary metabolic profile could be identified in Bangladeshi hepatitis-B hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) patients compared to cirrhosis patients and controls. METHODS: Urine samples from 42 Bangladeshi patients with HCC(39 patients with hepatitis-B HCC), 47 with cirrhosis on a background of hepatitis B, 46 with chronic hepatitis B, and seven ethnically-matched healthy controls were analyzed using nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) spectroscopy. A full dietary and medication history was recorded for each subject. The urinary NMR data were analyzed using principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial leastsquared discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) techniques. Differences in relative signal levels of the most discriminatory metabolites identified by PCA and OPLSDA were compared between subject groups using an independent samples Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance(ANOVA) test with all pairwise multiple comparisons. Within the patient subgroups, the MannWhitney U test was used to compare metabolite levels depending on hepatitis B e-antigen(HBe Ag) status and treatment with anti-viral therapy. A BenjaminiHochberg adjustment was applied to acquire the level of significance for multiple testing, with a declared level of statistical significance of P < 0.05.RESULTS: There were significant differences in age(P < 0.001), weight(P < 0.001), and body mass index(P < 0.001) across the four clinical subgroups. Serum alanine aminotransferase(ALT) was significantly higher in the HCC group compared to controls(P < 0.001); serum α-fetoprotein was generally markedly elevated in HCC compared to controls; and serum creatinine levels were significantly reduced in the HCC group compared to the cirrhosis group(P = 0.004). A threefactor PCA scores plot showed clustering of the urinary NMR spectra from the four subgroups. Metabolites that contributed to the discrimination between the subgroups included acetate, creatine, creatinine, dimethyamine(DMA), formate, glycine, hippurate, and trimethylamine-N-oxide(TMAO). A comparison of relative metabolite levels confirmed that carnitine was significantly increased in HCC; and creatinine, hippurate, and TMAO were significantly reduced in HCC compared to the other subgroups. HBe Ag negative patients showed a significant increase in creatinine(P = 0.001) compared to HBe Ag positive patients in the chronic hepatitis B subgroup, whilst HBe Ag negative patients showed a significant decrease in DMA(P = 0.004) in the cirrhosis subgroup compared to HBe Ag positive patients. There were no differences in metabolite levels in HCC patients who did or did not receive antiviral treatment. CONCLUSION: Urinary NMR changes in Bangladeshi HCC were identified, corroborating previous findings from Egypt and West Africa. These findings could form the basis for the development of a cost-effective HCC dipstick screening test.