Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Dec 15, 2021; 13(12): 2219-2222
Published online Dec 15, 2021. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v13.i12.2219
Critical biomarkers of hepatocellular carcinoma in body fluids and gut microbiota
Lekshmi R Nath, Maneesha Murali, Bhagyalakshmi Nair
Lekshmi R Nath, Department of Pharmacognosy, Amrita School of Pharmacy, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, AIMS Health Science Campus, Kochi 682041, Kerala, India
Maneesha Murali, Bhagyalakshmi Nair, Amrita School of Pharmacy, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, AIMS Health Science Campus, Kochi 682041, Kerala, India
Author contributions: Nath LR designed the draft; Murali M and Nair B performed a literature review; Nath LR and Nair B analyzed data; Nath LR and Murali M wrote the letter; Nath LR revised the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors did not have any conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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/
Corresponding author: Lekshmi R Nath, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacognosy, Amrita School of Pharmacy, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, AIMS Health Science Campus, Ponekkara P.O., Kochi 682041, Kerala, India. lekshmirnath@aims.amrita.edu
Received: May 31, 2021
Peer-review started: May 31, 2021
First decision: June 26, 2021
Revised: July 15, 2021
Accepted: November 5, 2021
Article in press: November 5, 2021
Published online: December 15, 2021
Processing time: 197 Days and 16.3 Hours
Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most prevalent primary liver cancer and one of the major causes of cancer-related death. The development of specific non-invasive or diagnostic markers from blood, urine and feces may represent a valuable tool for detecting HCC at an early stage. Biomarkers are considered novel potential targets for therapeutic intervention. It helps in the prediction of prognosis or recurrence of HCC, and also assist in the selection of appropriate treatment modality. We summarize the most relevant existing data about various biomarkers that play a key role in the progression of HCC.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma; Biomarker; Body fluids; Blood; Gut microbiota

Core Tip: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks fourth among the leading causes of cancer-related mortality. The development of specific noninvasive or diagnostic markers from blood, urine and feces may represent a valuable tool for detecting HCC at an early stage. Biomarkers help in the prediction of prognosis or recurrence, selection of appropriate treatment modality, and signify novel potential targets for therapeutic interventions. We summarize the most relevant existing data about various biomarkers involved in the progression of HCC.