2. Academic Validation
  3. Acetylcarnitine Is a Candidate Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Acetylcarnitine Is a Candidate Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

  • Cancer Res. 2016 May 15;76(10):2912-20. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-3199.
Yonghai Lu 1,  Ning Li 2,  Liang Gao 3,  Yong-Jiang Xu 4,  Chong Huang 2,  Kangkang Yu 2,  Qingxia Ling 2,  Qi Cheng 2,  Shengsen Chen 2,  Mengqi Zhu 2,  Jinling Fang 1,  Mingquan Chen 5,  Choon Nam Ong 6
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
  • 2 Department of Infectious Diseases and Hepatology of Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
  • 3 NUS Environmental Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
  • 4 Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
  • 5 Department of Infectious Diseases and Hepatology of Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. [email protected] [email protected].
  • 6 School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore. NUS Environmental Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore. [email protected] [email protected].
PMID: 26976432 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-3199
Abstract

The identification of serum biomarkers to improve the diagnosis and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma has been elusive to date. In this study, we took a mass spectroscopic approach to characterize metabolic features of the liver in hepatocellular carcinoma patients to discover more sensitive and specific biomarkers for diagnosis and progression. Global metabolic profiling of 50 pairs of matched liver tissue samples from hepatocellular carcinoma patients was performed. A series of 62 metabolites were found to be altered significantly in liver tumors; however, levels of acetylcarnitine correlated most strongly with tumor grade and could discriminate between hepatocellular carcinoma tumors and matched normal tissues. Post hoc analysis to evaluate serum diagnosis and progression potential further confirmed the diagnostic capability of serum acetylcarnitine. Finally, an external validation in an independent batch of 58 serum samples (18 hepatocellular carcinoma patients, 20 liver cirrhosis patients, and 20 healthy individuals) verified that serum acetylcarnitine was a meaningful biomarker reflecting hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis and progression. These findings present a strong new candidate biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma with potentially significant diagnostic and prognostic capabilities. Cancer Res; 76(10); 2912-20. ©2016 AACR.

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