Diagnosis, Therapy, and Prognosis for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide and the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide [1]. Currently, there are an estimated 29,200 new HCC cases in males and 11,510 cases in females in the United States in 2017, among which 29,000 cases died from HCC [2]. More seriously, estimated new HCC cases achieved 343,700 in males and 122,300 in females in China in 2015 [3], which is mainly attributed to the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) persistent infection and HBV-induced cirrhosis. Due to the absence of specific symptoms in early stages, the lack of early diagnostic markers, and the low percentage (10–20%) of radical resectable HCC on diagnosis, most HCC patients are often diagnosed in an advanced stage with poor prognosis (the overall ratio of mortality to incidence is 0.95) [4]. Although liver transplantation (LT) has been considered the most effective therapy for HCC [5], organ shortage significantly limits the application of LT. Even if sorafenib and regorafenib are applied in HCC, the overall outcome of HCC remains unsatisfactory with the median survival in early and advanced HCC of about 6-9 months and 1-2 months, respectively. Thus, it is very important to explore the novel diagnosis tools, therapy strategy, and prognosis markers for HCC