Characteristics of study paticipants according to clinical presentation.

<p>Characteristics of study paticipants according to clinical presentation.</p

Optimisation of quantitative miRNA panels to consolidate the diagnostic surveillance of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma

<div><p>Background</p><p>Circulating microRNAs (miRNA) are biomarkers for several neoplastic diseases, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We performed a literature search, followed by experimental screening and validation in order to establish a miRNA panel in combination with the assessment of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels and to evaluate its performance in HCC diagnostics.</p><p>Methods</p><p>Expression of miRNAs was quantified by quantitative PCR (qPCR) in 406 serum samples from 118 Vietnamese patients with hepatitis B (HBV)-related HCC, 69 patients with HBV-related liver cirrhosis (LC), 100 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients and 119 healthy controls (HC).</p><p>Results</p><p>Three miRNAs (mir-21, mir-122, mir-192) were expressed differentially among the studied subgroups and positively correlated with AFP levels. The individual miRNAs mir-21, mir-122, mir192 or the triplex miRNA panel showed high diagnostic accuracy for HCC (HCC vs. CHB, AUC = 0.906; HCC vs. CHB+LC, AUC = 0.81; HCC vs. CHB+LC+HC, AUC = 0.854). When AFP levels were ≤20ng/ml, the triplex miRNA panel still was accurate in distinguishing HCC from the other conditions (CHB, AUC = 0.922; CHB+LC, AUC = 0.836; CHB+LC+HC, AUC = 0.862). When AFP levels were used in combination with the triplex miRNA panel, the diagnostic performance was significantly improved in discriminating HCC from the other groups (LC, AUC = 0.887; CHB, AUC = 0.948; CHB+LC, AUC = 0.887).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>The three miRNAs mir-21, mir-122, mir-192, together with AFP, are biomarkers that may be applied to improve diagnostics of HCC in HBV patients, especially in HBV-related LC patients with normal AFP levels or HCC patients with small tumor sizes.</p></div

Diagnostic performance of miRNA panels in combination with alpha-fetoprotein in differentiating HCC against control subjects.

<p>Diagnostic performance of miRNA panels in combination with alpha-fetoprotein in differentiating HCC against control subjects.</p

Differential expression miRNAs and AFP levels in different groups.

<p>Differential expression of miR-21 (A), miR-122 (B) and miR-192 (C) and alpha-fetoprotein (D) in different groups of HBV-related liver diseases including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), liver cirrhosis (LC), chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and healthy controls (HC). Numbers in brackets = n of individuals tested. <i>P</i> values were calculated by non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test for pair-wise comparisons between groups.</p

Diagnostics performance of triplex miRNA panel in patients with normal AFP level.

<p>Diagnostic performance of the panel Mir@AFP based on the miRNAs miR-21, miR-122, miR-192 and AFP in differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma with normal AFP levels from other conditions (<20 ng/l). (A): HCC vs. CHB; (B): HCC vs. LC; (C): HCC vs. LC+CHB and (D): HCC vs. (LC+CHB+HC).</p

Diagnostics performance of miRNA panels and in combination with AFP levels.

<p>Diagnostic performance of the triplex miRNA panel based on the miRNAs miR-21, miR-122 and miR-192 levels in differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma from other conditions. (A): HCC vs. CHB; (B): HCC vs. LC; (C): HCC vs. LC+CHB and (D): HCC vs. (LC+CHB+HC).</p

Characteristics of study paticipants according to clinical presentation.

<p>Characteristics of study paticipants according to clinical presentation.</p