title: Liquid Biopsy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Circulating Tumor-Derived Biomarkers.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide due to latent liver disease, late diagnosis, and nonresponse to systemic treatments. Till now, surgical and/or biopsy specimens are still generally used as a gold standard by the clinicians for clinical decision-making. However, apart from their invasive characteristics, tumor biopsy only mirrors a single spot of the tumor, failing to reflect current cancer dynamics and progression. Therefore, it is imperative to develop new diagnostic strategies with significant effectiveness and reliability to monitor high-risk populations and detect HCC at an early stage. In the past decade, the potent utilities of "liquid biopsy" have attracted intense concern and were developed to evaluate cancer progression in several clinical trials. "Liquid biopsies" represent a series of noninvasive tests that detect cancer byproducts easily accessible in peripheral blood, mainly including circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and cell-free nucleic acids (cfNAs) that are shed into the blood from the tumor sites. In this review, we focus on the recent developments in the field of "liquid biopsy" as well as the diagnostic and prognostic significance of CTCs and cfNAs in HCC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Center for Gene Diagnosis, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, No. 169 Donghu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan 430071, China.
authors.forename: Chang-Qing
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4147-2528
authors.initials: CQ
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, No. 185 Donghu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan 430071, China.
authors.forename: Chun-Hui
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, No. 185 Donghu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan 430071, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, No. 185 Donghu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan 430071, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Center for Gene Diagnosis, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, No. 169 Donghu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan 430071, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Center for Gene Diagnosis, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, No. 169 Donghu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan 430071, China.
authors.forename: Fu-Bing
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5971-2622
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D035683:MicroRNAs