A meta-analysis of the prognostic impact of tissue golgi protein 73 (tGP73) in hepatocellular carcinoma.

INTRODUCTION: To date, an increasing number of studies have revealed that GP73 may have prognostic value in liver cancer. However, most of the studies evaluated serum GP73, and the results regarding the prognostic value of tGP73 in liver cancer are still controversial. Therefore, in this meta-analysis, we aimed to determine whether tGP73 has any prognostic value in patients with HCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relevant publications were searched for in PubMed, EMBASE, OVID, the Cochrane Library, and the Web of Science databases up to March 2023. The hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of eligible studies were assessed by fixed-effects or random-effects models. In addition, subgroup analyses were conducted to investigate the possible causes of heterogeneity, and publication bias analysis was also performed to assess the reliability of the meta-analysis results. RESULTS: A total of 10 studies were included. These studies included 1569 HCC patients, and a meta-analysis was performed. The results of our meta-analysis showed that higher GP73 expression levels were significantly associated with poorer OS (HR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.41-2.48, P < 0.0001, I2 = 58%). However, there was no significant correlation between high GP73 expression and disease-free survival (DFS) (HR: 1.43, 95% CI: 0.93-2.33, P = 0.100). In addition, abnormal GP73 expression was also related to higher tumour tissue differentiation grade (OR = 3.03, 95% CI = 2.01-4.57, P < 0.0001, I2 = 89%), later tumour stage (OR = 5.89, 95% CI = 2.31-14.99, P < 0.0001, I2 = 0%), vascular invasion (OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.12-2.64, P = 0.010, I2 = 0%), multiple tumours (OR = 2.44, 95% CI = 1.37-3.68, P = 0.001, I2 = 44%) and early postoperative tumour recurrence (OR = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.10-3.28, P = 0.020, I2 = 62%). CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analysis showed that the overexpression of GP73 may be related to a poor prognosis of HCC, and it may also have a predictive effect on the invasion and metastasis of HCC.

High platelet count predicts poor prognosis in HCC patients undergoing TACE: a propensity score-matched analysis.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the prognostic value of the pretreatment platelet (PLT) count in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related intermediate-advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) complicated with cirrhosis undergoing transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We assessed 362 patients with HBV-related intermediate-advanced HCC complicated with cirrhosis undergoing TACE. Patients were divided into low (≤96 × 109/L) and high (>96 × 109/L) PLT groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to eliminate the imbalance in potential confounding factors. The endpoint was time to progression (TTP). RESULTS: After PSM, the high and low PLT groups had 97 patients each. The TTP was significantly longer in the low PLT group than in the high PLT group (log-rank test, p < 0.001). A high pretreatment PLT count was an independent predictor of poor tumor response (OR 4.724; 95% CI 1.889-11.815; P = 0.001) and short TTP (HR = 3.598; 95% CI: 2.570-5.036; P < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that a high PLT count increased the risk of progression across almost all subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: The pretreatment PLT count has potential value in predicting the prognosis of patients with intermediate-advanced HCC undergoing TACE.