Integration of Prealbumin into Child-Pugh Classification Improves Prognosis Predicting Accuracy in HCC Patients Considering Curative Surgery

Background and Aims:The poor outcomes of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)patients may be due to not only malignant tumors but also limited liver function.Therefore,as stated in major guidelines,only patients with relatively normal liver function(Child-Pugh A)would be referred for curative hepatectomy.Even so,the postsurgery survival rate of patients is still extremely poor.Direct curative resection may benefit most patients.This study aimed to improve the prognosis predicting accuracy of the Child-Pugh scoring system.Methods:This study included two cohorts:cohort A being composed of 613 HCC patients,with a 23-month median postsurgery follow-up time;and cohort B being composed of 554 tumor-free chronic liver disease patients.Kaplan-Meier test and Cox model were used for survival analysis.Independent-samples t test or one-way ANOVA was used to test the differences between different groups.Results:Serum prealbumin levels were found inversely correlated with worsening of flbrotic scores(r=-0.482,p<0.001).Lower levels of presurgery prealbumin was an independent factor of poor postsurgery prognosis in Child-Pugh A patients,with a hazard ratio of 0.731(p=0.001).By integrating prealbumin together with total bilirubin level,serum albumin concentration and prothrombin time,a modified liver disease prognosis scoring system was developed to define traditional Child-Pugh A HCC patients as Modified Child-Pugh MCP-1,MCP-2 and MCP-3,with median postsurgery overall survival times of 44.00,28.00 and 11.00 months respectively.Conclusions:Preoperative serum prealbumin is a valuable prognosis predicting biomarker for Child-Pugh A HCC patients who may be under consideration for curative resection.With serum prealbumin included as one of the parameters,the MCP scoring system might improve the postsurgery survival predicting accuracy for HCC patients.

Liver Stiffness Measurement Can Reflect the Active Liver Necroinflammation in Population with Chronic Liver Disease:A Real-world Evidence Study

Background and Aims: Non-invasive evaluation of liver nec-roinflammation in patients with chronic liver disease is an un-met need in clinical practice.The diagnostic accuracy of transient elastography-based liver stiffness measurement(LSM)for liver fibrosis could be affected by liver necroinflam-mation,the latter of which could intensify stiffness of the liver.Such results have prompted us to explore the diagnosis potential of LSM for liver inflammation.Methods: Three cross-sectional cohorts of liver biopsy-proven chronic liver dis-ease patients were enrolled,including 1417 chronic hepatitis B(CHB)patients from 10 different medical centers,106 non-al-coholic steatohepatitis patients,and 143 patients with auto-immune-related liver diseases.Another longitudinal cohort of 14 entecavir treatment patients was also included.The re-ceiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was employed to explore the diagnostic value of LSM.Results: In CHB patients,LSM value ascended with the increased severity of liver nec-roinflammation in patients with the same fibrosis stage.Such positive correlation between LSM and liver necroinflammation was also found in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and autoim-mune-related liver diseases populations.Furthermore,the ROC curve exhibited that LSM could identify moderate and se-vere inflammation in CHB patients(area under the ROC curve as 0.779 and 0.838)and in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis pa-tients(area under the ROC curve as 0.826 and 0.871),respec-tively.Such moderate diagnostic value was also found in autoimmune-related liver diseases patients.In addition,in the longitudinal entecavir treated CHB cohort,a decline of LSM values was observed in parallel with the control of inflam-matory activity in liver.Conclusions: Our study implicates a diagnostic potential of LSM to evaluate the severity of liver necroinflammation in chronic liver disease patients.

Use of serum Golgi protein 73 for screening chronic hepatitis B virus infection patients needing antiviral therapy in the community

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major global public health problem. Approximately 887,000 people die of HBV infection-related diseases annually, with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) being the principal causes of mortality.[1] Timely antiviral therapy greatly reduces the risks of cirrhosis and HCC. However, unfortunately, of those patients who are eligible for antiviral treatment, only 25% of patients in clinic settings and 12% of those in community settings obtain timely antiviral therapy.[2] Therefore, reliable means of identifying patients with chronic HBV infection that require antiviral therapy are necessary, particularly for use in the community.

Relationship between the Level of Serum Golgi Protein 73 and the Risk of Short-term Death in Patients with ALD-ACLF

Background and Aims:As a hepatocellular carcinoma biomarker,serum Golgi protein 73(GP73)is reportedly related to inflammation.Acute-on-chronic liver failure(ACLF)is characterized by severe systemic inflammation.In this study,we aimed to explore the association between the GP73 level and short-term mortality in patients with alcohol-associated liver disease-related ACLF(ALD-ACLF).Methods:This retrospective cohort study involved 126 Chinese adults with ALD-ACLF.Baseline serum GP73 level was measured using enzymelinked immunosorbent assay.Patients were followed-up for 90 d and outcomes were assessed.Data were analyzed using multivariate Cox regression and piecewise linear regression analyses.The predictive value of GP73 and classic models for the short-term prognosis of participants were evaluated and compared using receiver operating characteristic curves.Results:The serum GP73 level was independently associated with an increased mortality risk in patients with ALD-ACLF.Compared with the lowest tertile,the highest serum GP73 level predisposed patients with ALD-ACLF to a higher mortality risk in the fully adjusted model[at 28 days:hazard ratio(HR):4.29(0.99–18.54),p=0.0511;at 90 days:HR:3.52(1.15–10.79),p=0.0276].Further analysis revealed a positive linear association.GP73 significantly improved the accuracy of the Child-Turcotte-Pugh score,model for end-stage liver disease score,and model for end-stage liver diseasesodium score in predicting short-time prognosis of patients with ALD-ACLF.Conclusions:The serum GP73 level is a significant predictor of the subsequent risk of death in patients with ALD-ACLF.GP73 improved the predictive value of classic prognostic scores.