Gut-Microbiome Biomarkers Identify Early Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Research article: Gut microbiome analysis as a tool towards targeted non-invasive biomarkers for early hepatocellular carcinoma

We have demonstrated characteristic changes in the gut microbiota in early HCC across a large clinical cohort, illustrated crucial bacterial candidates that may contribute to HCC development, identified specific microbial markers and validated their diagnostic efficacy in the three cohorts from three different regions of China. Thus, we propose that gut microbiota-targeted biomarkers may become potential non-invasive tools for early diagnosis of HCC. Systematic investigation of the key bacterial genus or species by metagenomic sequencing may further improve the diagnostic value for HCC. The combination of microbial markers and currently used diagnostic approaches may further benefit HCC populations. The validation of gut microbial markers in much larger cohorts from different ethnic populations or different countries may further promote the efficacy and stability of HCC diagnosis. The ultimate goal would be to identify faecal microbial markers with strong diagnostic power to detect early HCC, which may further achieve early diagnosis and early therapy for HCC.

Continue reading: https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2018/07/25/gutjnl-2017-315084

In the media - Reuters Health Information
Gut-Microbiome Biomarkers Identify Early Hepatocellular Carcinoma

08/10/2018

By Will Boggs MD 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A panel of gut-microbiome biomarkers can be useful for identifying patients with early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), researchers from China report... 

Dr. Ren and colleagues characterized the gut microbiome and evaluated its potential as a noninvasive biomarker for HCC in their study of 75 patients with early HCC, 40 patients with cirrhosis and 75 healthy controls. They validated the results in 30 patients with early HCC, 45 patients with advanced HCC and 56 controls and further validated the biomarker panel's diagnostic potential in 98 patients with HCC....
Read the article: http://www.oncnet.com/news/gut-microbiome-biomarkers-identify-early-hepatocellular-carcinoma