Transarterial Radioembolization for Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Major Vascular Invasion: A Nationwide Propensity Score-Matched Analysis with Target Trial Emulation.

Purpose: To examine National Cancer Database (NCDB) data to comparatively evaluate overall survival (OS) between patients undergoing transarterial radioembolization (TARE) and those undergoing systemic therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma with major vascular invasion (HCC-MVI).

Methods: One thousand five hundred fourteen patients with HCC-MVI undergoing first-line TARE or systemic therapy were identified from the NCDB. OS was compared using propensity score-matched Cox regression and landmark analysis.

Phospholipids are A Potentially Important Source of Tissue Biomarkers for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Results of a Pilot Study Involving Targeted Metabolomics.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) pathogenesis involves the alteration of multiple liver-specific metabolic pathways. We systematically profiled cancer- and liver-related classes of metabolites in HCC and adjacent liver tissues and applied supervised machine learning to compare their potential yield for HCC biomarkers.

Methods: Tumor and corresponding liver tissue samples were profiled as follows: Bile acids by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (MS), phospholipids by LC-MS/MS, and other small molecules including free fatty acids by gas chromatography-time of flight MS.

Transcriptomics Associates Molecular Features with F-Fluorocholine PET/CT Imaging Phenotype and Its Potential Relationship to Survival in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Studies involving transcriptomics have revealed multiple molecular subtypes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has also identified distinct molecular imaging subtypes, including those with increased and decreased choline metabolism as measured by the tissue uptake of the radiopharmaceutical F-fluorocholine. Gene signatures reflecting the molecular heterogeneity of HCC may identify the biological and clinical significance of these imaging subtypes.

Clinical and molecular sub-classification of hepatocellular carcinoma relative to alpha-fetoprotein level in an Asia-Pacific island cohort.

Aim: Increased serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels are associated with specific molecular sub-classes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), supporting AFP as a predictive or therapeutic biomarker for precision treatment of this disease. Considering recent efforts to validate HCC molecular classification systems across different populations, we applied existing signature-based classification templates to Hawaii cohorts and examined whether associations between HCC molecular sub-class, AFP levels, and clinical features found elsewhere can also be found in Hawaii, a region with a unique demographic and risk factor profile for HCC.

Methods: Whole-genome expression profiling was performed on HCC tumors collected from 40 patients following partial hepatectomy.

[F]Fluorocholine PET/CT Imaging of Liver Cancer: Radiopathologic Correlation with Tissue Phospholipid Profiling.

Purpose: [F]fluorocholine PET/CT can detect hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on imaging the initial steps of phosphatidylcholine synthesis. To relate the diagnostic performance of [F]fluorocholine positron emission tomography (PET)/x-ray computed tomography (CT) to the phospholipid composition of liver tumors, radiopathologic correspondence was performed in patients with early-stage liver cancer who had undergone [F]fluorocholine PET/CT before tumor resection.

Procedures: Tumor and adjacent liver were profiled by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, quantifying phosphatidylcholine species by mass-to-charge ratio.

Prediction of PSA Progression in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Based on Treatment-Associated Change in Tumor Burden Quantified by 18F-Fluorocholine PET/CT.

Unlabelled: Measurements of metabolically active tumor volume (MATV) can be applied to (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT to quantify whole-body tumor burden. This study evaluated the serial application of these measurements as systemic treatment response markers and predictors of disease progression in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Methods: Forty-two patients completed sequential (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT scans before and 1-3 mo after starting treatment for CRPC.

Chronic Liver Disease and the Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma by [(18)F]fluorocholine PET/CT.

Positron emission tomography (PET) using the radiopharmaceutical tracer fluorine-18 fluorocholine (FCh) can elucidate tumors based on differences in choline phospholipid metabolism between tumor and surrounding tissue. The feasibility of detecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using FCh PET has been shown despite constitutively high parenchymal choline metabolism in the liver. Since HCC frequently develops in the setting of chronic liver disease, we comparatively evaluated FCh PET/CT between cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients with HCC to investigate the effects of hepatic dysfunction on tumor detection and the tumor-to-background ratio (TBR) of FCh uptake.