Preoperative human-telomerase reverse transcriptase mRNA in peripheral blood and tumor recurrence in living-related liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
In this study we evaluated the potential role of preoperative h-TERT mRNA expression in peripheral blood as a tool for predicting prognosis and tumor recurrence after living-related liver donor transplantation (LRLDT).


METHODS
The study included patients with unresectable HCC who underwent LRLDT from July 1999 to May 2003.


RESULTS
There was no significant difference between the survival curves of those patients who met the Milan criteria and those who did not. However, there was a statistically significant difference (p=0.032) between the survival curves of those patients with positive preoperative h-TERT mRNA expression, and those who either had an initially negative preoperative h-TERT mRNA or who converted from positive to negative after neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, the presence or absence of h-TERT mRNA in the peripheral blood may be a useful criterion in evaluating HCC patients for transplantation, as well as a valuable method of assessing anti-tumor therapy and tumor relapse.
Sato
Yoshinobu
Y
Division of Digestive and General Surgery, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan. kanishok@med.niigata-u.ac.jp
Yamamoto
Satoshi
S
Oya
Hiroshi
H
Nakatsuka
Hideki
H
Kobayashi
Takashi
T
Takeishi
Toshiyuki
T
Hirano
Kenichiro
K
Hara
Yoshiaki
Y
Watanabe
Takaoki
T
Waguri
Nobuo
N
Suda
Takeshi
T
Ichida
Takafumi
T
Aoyagi
Yutaka
Y
Hatakeyama
Katsuyoshi
K
D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000097:blood*; D011379:Prognosis; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics
D019098:Telomerase