New frontiers in biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma.
Hepatocellular carcinoma represents the fifth most frequent cancer in the world; it commonly occurs on cirrhotic liver. Prognosis and survival are still poor, mainly because of diagnosis at a late stage and/or recurrence of the disease. For this reason, surveillance strategies are widely used to screen for early occurrence of cancer in populations at risk. Alpha-foetoprotein is so far the only serological marker available, but its diagnostic accuracy is unsatisfactory because of low sensitivity despite reliable specificity. For this reason, new biomarkers for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma are in strong demand by clinicians. In this review, we will focus on new biomarkers currently under investigation, but also on still newer, very promising biomarkers that seem to significantly improve diagnosis.
Giannelli
G
G
Department of Internal Medicine, Immunology, and Infectious Diseases, Section of Internal Medicine, University of Bari Medical School, Bari, Italy. g.giannelli@intmed.uniba.it
Antonaci
S
S
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis*; D053673:Glypicans / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000032:analysis; D011516:Prothrombin / Q000032:analysis; D015843:Serpins / Q000032:analysis; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D015415:Biomarkers; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C410824:GOLM1 protein, human; C105937:GPC3 protein, human; D053673:Glypicans; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011498:Protein Precursors; D015843:Serpins; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; C051072:squamous cell carcinoma-related antigen; C008208:acarboxyprothrombin; D011516:Prothrombin