Blood biomarkers “SH3PXD2B” and “CD70” have been discovered that can diagnose liver cancer in a simple, non-invasive way at an early stage.
Professor Lim Su-bin and research fellow Hong Ji-won of the Biochemistry Department at Ajou University School of Medicine and Professor Cho Hyo-jung and Research Professor Eun Jung-woo of the Department of Gastroenterology at Ajou University Hospital analyzed the genetic markers through multi-omics analysis using blood samples from viral and non-viral cancer patients and non-liver cancer patients.
As a result, they identified SH3PXD2B (viral liver cancer) and CD70 (non-viral liver cancer) as blood biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity. The hospital said the discovery has paved the way for diagnosing liver cancer at an early stage through a relatively simple blood test.
These biomarkers showed high scores of 0.73 (SH3PXD2B) and 0.83 (CD70) in the area under the curve (AUC), a measure of how well they distinguish between liver cancer and non-liver cancers, such as hepatitis and cirrhosis.
Liver cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat and has a low survival rate due to the high heterogeneity of the tumor microenvironment and diverse causes.
Therefore, the importance of early diagnosis and aggressive treatment is emphasized. However, current diagnostic methods for liver cancer have limitations for effective diagnosis due to low sensitivity, the possibility of false positives, and tumor heterogeneity among patients.
Notably, the cancer genome is different depending on the viral or non-viral etiology, and distinct biomarkers for each etiology must be identified.
To enhance the reliability of the study, the researchers used a blood buffy coat (including immune cells and various cells in the blood), which has recently gained attention in biomarker research for the first time in liver cancer research. They also emphasized that they performed multi-omics analysis, which combines RNA-level gene expression analysis and protein expression screening, on plasma samples from liver cancer patients.
“We have confirmed that the biomarkers we discovered can be used to diagnose liver cancer in the early stages of stages 1 and 2,” Professor Cho said. “We expect to be able to identify liver cancer with a relatively simple ’blood test' through further research.”
Professor Lim said, “We have found a liver cancer biomarker with high sensitivity and specificity through the latest precision analysis. Significantly, we have identified a biomarker that is effective in distinguishing between liver cancer and non-liver cancer, which is difficult to distinguish in clinical practice.”
The study was published in the international journal Clinical and Molecular Hepatology (IF:14) under “Multiomics profiling of buffy coat and plasma unveils etiology-specific signatures in hepatocellular carcinoma.”