Application of CTC and CTM in liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma / 医学研究生学报

ABSTRACT

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world. For all the advances in surgical techniques,including transplantation, no substantial improvement has been made in the curative effect of HCC. The 1-year survival rate of the HCC patients with recurrence after liver transplantation is only 18%. In order to optimize the screening criteria for transplant recipients,perfect the distribution system of the donor,reduce the recurrence rate and improve the survival of the patients, it is necessary to gain a deeper insight into the tumor biological characteristics of the patients undergoing liver transplantation,precisely predict their prognostic indexes,and ascertain the relationship of post-transplant recurrence and metastasis with the patient's immune status, so as to carry out effective intervention for high-risk patients and individualized and integrated treatment for those with recur-rence or metastasis. Evidence shows that circulating tumor cells (CTC) and circulating tumor microemboli (CTM) are closely related with and contribute even more than other factors,such as the tumor size,tumor number,and vascular invasion,to the postoperative re-currence and metastasis of HCC. Therefore,a dynamic evaluation of CTC and CTM before liver transplantation can provide essential in-dicators for screening the recipient and predicting postoperative recurrence and metastasis.