Topic Highlight
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jan 27, 2015; 7(1): 7-27
Published online Jan 27, 2015. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i1.7
Management of hepatocellular carcinoma: Predictive value of immunohistochemical markers for postoperative survival
Zhao-Shan Niu, Xiao-Jun Niu, Mei Wang
Zhao-Shan Niu, Lab of Micromorphology, Medical College of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, Shandong Province, China
Xiao-Jun Niu, Clinical Medicine Specialty, Medical College of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, Shandong Province, China
Mei Wang, Institute of Education, the University of Reading, RG6 1HY Reading, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Niu ZS designed the review’s objectives; Niu XJ and Wang M searched the literature for latest developments in the field; Niu ZS and Wang M were involved in reviewing the literature, writing and editing the manuscript.
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: Zhao-Shan Niu, MD, Lab of Micromorphology, Medical College of Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, Shandong Province, China. niumiao1993@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-532-83780012 Fax: +86-532-83780012
Received: July 22, 2014
Peer-review started: July 23, 2014
First decision: August 14, 2014
Revised: September 2, 2014
Accepted: November 7, 2014
Article in press: November 10, 2014
Published online: January 27, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Hepatic resection is generally considered to be one of the most effective therapies for HCC patients, however, the overall post-hepatic resection survival of HCC patients remains unsatisfactory as indicated by the high recurrence rate. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify prognostic biomarkers for the prediction of postoperative recurrence or metastasis, and to develop better strategies for HCC management. The purpose of this paper is to review the most promising immunohistochemical prognostic markers so far for predicting the postoperative survival of HCC patients.