Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common types of cancer that is associated with poor quality of life in patients and a global health burden. The mechanisms involved in the development and progression of HCC remain poorly understood.Methods: Hepatocellular carcinoma human samples and cell lines were subjected to qRT-PCR for expression assessment. CCK-8 assay, Transwell migration and invasion assay, were applied for cell function detection. Animal experiment was used to measure the function of SNHG17 on cell growth in vivo. Western blot was conducted to evaluate the level of EMT in cells. RIP, RNA pull-down and luciferase reporter assays were performed to assess the correlation between SNHG17, miR-3180-3p and RFX1.Results: Our study demonstrated that SNHG17 was upregulated in HCC human samples and involved cell proliferation, migration, invasion progress. SNHG17 promoted HCC cell growth and metastasis in vivo. Furthermore, we investigated the downstream factor of SNHG17, SNHG17 acted as a molecular sponge for miR-3180-3p, and SNHG17 regulated RFX1 expression via miR-3180-3p. SNHG17 promotes tumor-like behavior in HCC cells via miR-3180-3p/RFX1.Conclusion: We determined RFX1 as the target of miR-3810-3p; SNHG17 enhanced the progression of HCC via the miR-3180-3p/RFX1 axis. Taken together, our findings may provide insight into the molecular mechanism involved in the progression of HCC and develop SNHG17 as a novel therapeutic target against HCC.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common malignant tumour, which has posed a heavy health and financial burden worldwide. Due to limited symptoms at the early stage and the limitation in current biomarkers, HCC patients are usually diagnosed at the advanced stage with a pessimistic overall survival rate. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a subclass of single‐stranded RNAs characterized by a covalently closed loop structure without 3’‐ or 5’‐end. With advances in high‐throughput sequencing technology and bioinformatics, accumulating studies have demonstrated the promotor or suppressor roles of circRNAs in the carcinogenesis, progression, and metastasis of HCC. Moreover, circRNAs are characteristic of higher abundance, stability and conservation compared with linear RNAs. Therefore, circRNAs have emerged as one of the most promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for HCC with reliable accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. In this review, we briefly introduce the characteristics of circRNAs and summarize the roles of circRNAs in the biological procedures of HCC. Furthermore, we provide an overview on the potential diagnostic and prognostic value of circRNAs as biomarkers for patients with HCC. Finally, we discuss future perspectives of circRNAs in cancer research.

Dendritic cells (DCs) and cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells play an important role in the anti-tumor immune response. In this study, we evaluated the clinical effectiveness of DC/CIK-CD24 immunotherapies to primary hepatocellular carcinoma patients who received radical resection. 36 resected primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients were enrolled from August 2014 to December 2015. All patients received two or four times of DC/CIK immunotherapy after radical resection. 1–4 years patients’ survival rates were evaluated during the follow-up. The 4-year survival rate of patients who received two times of immunotherapy was 47.1%, and the rate of those who received four times of immunotherapies was 52.6%. Compared to baseline, after receiving the DC/CIK-CD24 autotransfusion, the serum Treg concentration of the patients decreased, while CD3+, CD4+, CD56+ increased slightly. The adverse effect of immunotherapy was I–II° transient fever and could be tolerable. DC/CIK-CD24 immunotherapy can delay the relapse time.

Background and Objectives: The modification of histone acetylation plays a vital role in regulating tumor occurrence and development, but the interaction between histone acetylation modulator genes and the liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) microenvironment, as well as immunotherapy, has not been investigated. Materials and Methods: Analysis of all statistical data was carried out using R software (Version 4.2.0) and the online tool Sangerbox. Comprehensive bioinformatics analysis, including signature construction and validation, functional analyses, immune and genomic features analyses, and immunotherapy prediction analyses, were performed to explore the prognostic and therapeutic role of histone acetylation modulator genes in LIHC development and progression. Results: The LIHC cohort from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was selected as the training cohort; the GSE76427 cohort from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and the LIRI-JP cohort from the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database were selected as the validation cohorts. The histone acetylation modulator gene-based prognostic signature was constructed and validated successfully. Immune infiltration analysis showed that most immune cells and immune functions were enriched in patients with high histone acetylation risk scores (HARS). Additionally, high levels of checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) were also observed in high HARS patients. Meanwhile, TIDE algorithm analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between HARS and immunotherapy response, and submap algorithm analysis was used for the verification of the results, from which we found that high HAPS patients were more likely to respond to immunotherapy. Conclusions: Our findings revealed that the histone acetylation modulator genes, particularly for KAT21, SIRT6, and HAT1, may have the potential to function as a new prognostic marker and therapeutic target for LIHC.

Purpose: Hepatitis B virus infection is one of the most common risk factors leading to the development of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). This study aims to determine the impact of antiviral treatment (AVT) on the survival outcomes of ICC patients with hepatitis B virus infection. Patients and Methods: This retrospective study included ICC patients who had HBV infection and underwent hepatectomy from May 2009 to June 2023 at a single medical center. Patients’ baseline characteristics were analyzed, and the 14-year follow-up data were investigated using Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models. The propensity score matching method was performed to balance the baseline differences between the AVT group and the non-AVT group. Results: A total of 229 patients were finally enrolled in the analysis. In the total cohort, 81 patients were classified into the AVT group and 148 patients into the non-AVT group. Kaplan-Meier curves showed that the AVT group exhibited prolonged overall survival and recurrence-free survival compared to the non-AVT group. Cox proportional hazards regression models revealed that AVT was an independent prognostic factor for both overall survival (HR 0.453, 95% CI: 0.280– 0.732) and recurrence-free survival (HR 0.659, 95% CI: 0.436– 0.997). A 1:1 nearest-neighbor matching algorithm was adopted, and 64 pairs of AVT and non-AVT patients were included in the propensity score matching cohort. Multivariable survival analyses confirmed AVT as a significant predictor for a favorable overall survival (HR 0.277, 95% CI: 0.147– 0.519), but no statistical significance for recurrence-free survival was observed between the AVT group and the non-AVT group after propensity score matching. Conclusion: We analyzed the long-term follow-up data for ICC patients with hepatitis B virus infection who underwent hepatectomy. Notably, AVT exhibited a beneficial impact on overall survival for these postoperative ICC patients. However, our findings indicated no statistically significant effect of AVT on recurrence-free survival.

Aim: This study aimed to compare the prognostic outcomes of cytokeratin (CK) 19-positive and CK19-negative hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), focusing on clinicopathological features and the impact of targeted therapy in CK19-positive patients. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 310 HCC patients who underwent curative resection between 2010 and 2020 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. Among them, 168 were CK19-positive and 102 were CK19-negative. Multivariate Cox regression was used to identify independent predictors of overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Kaplan-Meier survival curves were generated from the Cox model. Results: CK19-positive patients exhibited significantly poorer tumor differentiation (P < 0.001), increased microvascular invasion (P = 0.010), elevated α-fetoprotein (AFP) (P = 0.0001) and were more often asymptomatic at diagnosis (P = 0.014). The median survival time (MST) was 22.1 months in CK19-positive versus 60.3 months in CK19-negative patients. Among those with recurrence, MST was 56.4 months for CK19-positive and 101.6 months for CK19-negative patients. CK19 status significantly impacted OS (P < 0.001) and RFS (P = 0.006) in advanced-stage cases. Independent prognostic factors for RFS included cirrhosis, tumor size, number of tumors, macrovascular invasion, poor differentiation, and CK19 expression. Microvascular invasion and Child-Pugh classification were additional predictors of OS. Targeted therapies did not significantly improve outcomes in CK19-positive patients. Conclusions: CK19-positive HCC is associated with more aggressive tumor behavior, higher recurrence, and poorer survival. Targeted therapy provided no significant survival benefit in this study.