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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 28, 2015; 21(36): 10336-10347
Published online Sep 28, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i36.10336
Predictive biomarkers of sorafenib efficacy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: Are we getting there?
Yu-Yun Shao, Chih-Hung Hsu, Ann-Lii Cheng
Yu-Yun Shao, Chih-Hung Hsu, Ann-Lii Cheng, Graduate Institute of Oncology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei 10051, Taiwan
Yu-Yun Shao, Chih-Hung Hsu, Department of Oncology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 10002, Taiwan
Ann-Lii Cheng, Departments of Oncology and Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 10002, Taiwan
Author contributions: Shao YY and Hsu CH collected data; Shao YY, Cheng AL, and Hsu CH wrote the paper.
Supported by Grants from National Science Council, Taiwan No. NSC-101-2314-B-002-141 and No. NSC-102-2314-B-002-120; and Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, No. MOST-103-2314-B-002-181-MY2, No. MOST-103-2314-B-002-090 and No. MOST -103-2314-B-002-092.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Yu-Yun Shao has nothing to declare. Chih-Hung Hsu has received fees for serving as a speaker from Bayer, and a consultant for Bayer, Exelixis, and Roche. Ann-Lii Cheng was a consultant of Novartis, Merck Serono, Eisai, Exelixis, and GlaxosmithKline LLC, and received research funding from Sanofi (China) and Chugai Pharma R&D Taiwan Ltd.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Chih-Hung Hsu, MD, PhD, Department of Oncology, National Taiwan University Hospital, 7 Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei 10002, Taiwan. chihhunghsu@ntu.edu.tw
Telephone: +886-2-23123456-67680 Fax: +886-2-23711174
Received: March 24, 2015
Peer-review started: March 26, 2015
First decision: May 18, 2015
Revised: May 26, 2015
Accepted: August 28, 2015
Article in press: August 31, 2015
Published online: September 28, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: A predictive biomarker of sorafenib efficacy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma is a clinical unmet need. Previous studies identified the potential of blood levels of angiopoietin-2, hepatocyte growth factor, insulin-like growth factor-1, and transforming growth factor-β1 for predicting sorafenib efficacy. Alpha-fetoprotein response, dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, and treatment-related side effects may serve as early surrogate markers. Novel approaches based on super-responders or experimental mouse models may provide new research directions. A group effort that considers various prognostic factors and proper collection of tumor tissues before treatment is imperative for the success of future biomarker research in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.