Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a widely prevalent and malignantly progressive tumor. Most patients are typically diagnosed with HCC at an advanced stage, posing significant challenges in the execution of curative surgical interventions. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) represent a distinct category of RNA molecules not directly involved in protein synthesis. However, they possess the remarkable ability to regulate gene expression, thereby exerting significant regulatory control over cellular processes. Notably, ncRNAs have been implicated in the modulation of programmed cell death (PCD), a crucial mechanism that various therapeutic agents target in the fight against HCC. This review summarizes the clinical significance of ncRNA regulation of PCD in HCC, including patient diagnosis, prognosis, drug resistance, and side effects. The aim of this study is to provide new insights and directions for the diagnosis and drug treatment strategies of HCC.

Objective: To investigate the impact of menopausal status on the prognosis for sex-classified Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to establish prognostic nomograms for patients after liver resection. Results: After propensity score matching (PSM), statistically significant differences in both overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were found between men and women HCC patients. Based on Cox regression analysis, these differences were evident in the normal menstruation (N) group expanded with male patients, but not in either the expanded postmenopausal (P) or intermediate (I) groups. Sex disparity was also apparent in the recurrence-free survival (RFS) of the total HCC patients. Integrated with independent factors, nomograms for the OS and RFS of the expanded N group showed higher C-indices of 0.773 and 0.724, respectively, than those of nomograms for the total patients and BCLC stage (P<0.001). Conclusion: Sex disparity appears to affect both the survival and recurrence of HCC only in normal menstruation women and their matched men. For predicting survival, prognostic nomograms derived from the expanded N group of HCC patients were more accurate for patients with the same clinical conditions. Methods: The patients (390 females and 1920 males), who underwent curative liver resection for HCC during 2008 to 2012, were screened. The 390 women were divided into three groups: normal menstruation, intermediate, and postmenopausal. To overcome selection bias, the three groups of females were matched with males at a ratio of 1:2, using propensity score matching. Based on further Cox regression analysis, independent factors were integrated into nomograms for OS and RFS by R rms. The accuracy and discrimination of the nomograms were evaluated by the C-index, calibration curve, and decision curve analysis.

Purpose: To develop and validate a gene-related nomogram for predicting the risk of lymph node (LN) metastasis preoperatively in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: RNA-seq data of 581 CRC and 51 normal cases with clinical features were downloaded from TCGA database. In the evaluation cohort with 381 CRC cases, the LASSO regression was used to reduce dimensionality of gene signatures extracted to build gene score. A gene-related nomogram was performed based on the multivariable logistic regression analysis. The performance of the nomogram was assessed by the discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness not only in the evaluation, but also in the validation cohort with 200 CRC cases. Results: A total of 12,590 differentially expressed genes were selected, in which 59 candidates associated with LN metastasis in differentially expressed genes set were screened by LASSO to form the gene score. Based on the analysis of multivariate logistic regression, the gene-related nomogram showed good calibration and discrimination not only in the evaluation cohort (concordance-index 0.93; 95%CI 0.91–0.96), but also in the validation cohort (concordance-index 0.70; 95%CI 0.63–0.78). The decision curve analysis of the gene-related nomogram also provides constructive guidance for the design of operation plan, preoperatively. Conclusions: The presented genes nomogram may predict the LN metastasis in CRC patients, preoperatively. And 59 hub genes were defined related to LN metastasis of CRC, which can serve as treatment targets for the further study. Preoperative biopsy and gene analysis are needed to develop the operation plan in clinical practice.

To elucidate the impact of acute-phase protein serum amyloid A (aSAA) on microvascular invasion (MVI) and early recurrence in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).HBV-rela...

Background: Inflammation in the peritumoral normal tissues has impact on tumors. This study investigated the prognostic impact of portal area inflammation (PAI) on postoperative tumor recurrence and overall survival (OS) in patients undergoing resection for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) without lymph node metastasis (LNM). Methods: Two hundred and ninety-seven patients who had undergone curative-intent resection at the Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Shanghai, between 2011 and 2015 were selected. All patients were histologically diagnosed with ICC and had no LNM. PAI was defined by experienced pathologists based on standard pathological evaluations. Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of PAI. Further survival analysis was performed on PAI-related endpoints, OS, and recurrence-free survival (RFS), using Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate regression. Results: Among the 297 patients included in the study, the PAI incidence was 43.1% (128 patients). OS and RFS were worse in patients with PAI than in those without PAI (median OS, 21.87 months with PAI versus 33.37 months without PAI, P<0.001; median RFS, 12.33 months with PAI versus 21.60 months without PAI, P<0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that PAI was an independent prognostic factor for both OS [hazard ratio (HR) 1.60; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18–2.17, P=0.003] and RFS (HR 1.40; 95% CI: 1.06–1.85, P=0.019). Conclusions: Consequently, PAI is a strong independent predictor of tumor recurrence and OS after curative-intent resection in patients with ICC without LNM. The impact of PAI on the postoperative prognosis of ICC patients without LNM is non-negligible. It is strongly recommended to pay attention to the inflammatory status of the portal area in ICC patients and increase the frequency of postoperative follow-up to improve the prognosis of ICC patients after curative resection.