Lu XY, Wang YG, Wang H. Telomere and telomerase: Traditional tumor targets regain their applications for liver cancer diagnosis and prognosis. World J Gastroenterol 2026; 32(21): 116363 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i21.116363]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Hui Wang, MD, Doctor, Department of Oncology, Zhejiang Xiaoshan Hospital, No. 728 Yucai North Road, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou 311200, Zhejiang Province, China. wanghui19840106@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Anthropology
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editorial
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Lu XY, Wang YG, Wang H. Telomere and telomerase: Traditional tumor targets regain their applications for liver cancer diagnosis and prognosis. World J Gastroenterol 2026; 32(21): 116363 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i21.116363]
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 7, 2026; 32(21): 116363 Published online Jun 7, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i21.116363
Telomere and telomerase: Traditional tumor targets regain their applications for liver cancer diagnosis and prognosis
Xin-Ya Lu, Yi-Gang Wang, Hui Wang
Xin-Ya Lu, Yi-Gang Wang, College of Life Sciences and Medicine, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang Province, China
Hui Wang, Department of Oncology, Zhejiang Xiaoshan Hospital, Hangzhou 311200, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Lu XY, Wang YG and Wang H contributed to this paper; Wang YG and Wang H designed the outline of the manuscript; Lu XY and Wang H contributed to the writing, editing the manuscript and review of literature.
AI contribution statement: DeepSeek was merely used for English translation and linguistic polishing on the basis of author-summarized content.
Supported by the Hangzhou Medical Health Science and Technology Project, No. B20220173; and Joint Fund of Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China, No. LKLY25H160002.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Corresponding author: Hui Wang, MD, Doctor, Department of Oncology, Zhejiang Xiaoshan Hospital, No. 728 Yucai North Road, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou 311200, Zhejiang Province, China. wanghui19840106@126.com
Received: November 10, 2025 Revised: December 18, 2025 Accepted: January 21, 2026 Published online: June 7, 2026 Processing time: 197 Days and 15.2 Hours
Abstract
In recent decades, telomeres and telomerase activity have been central to research on cellular aging, stem cell biology, and tumor progression. In our previous work, we developed several targeted therapeutic strategies that successfully suppress the growth of malignant tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma, in both in vitro and in vivo models. Despite these advances, the clinical application of telomere-based biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis remains limited. In this context, El-Nakeep et al recently published a study in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, and which demonstrated that telomere length in peripheral leukocytes may serve as a liquid biopsy-based biomarker for the diagnosis and short-term prognostic assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma following loco-regional therapy. This work underscores a novel and clinically relevant application of telomere biology in the management of hepatocellular carcinoma. Thus, future studies should include larger clinical cohorts and extend investigations to additional tumor types to further validate the diagnostic and prognostic significance of telomere length. Moreover, continued exploration of telomerase and telomerase reverse transcriptase as therapeutic targets represents an important research direction, with the potential to integrate biomarker discovery with anticancer therapy development more closely.
Core Tip: This editorial emphasizes the pivotal role of telomere biology in hepatocellular carcinoma, spanning fundamental molecular mechanisms and their clinical implications. It outlines the diagnostic and prognostic value of non-invasive liquid biopsy approaches based on telomere length assessment and TERT mutation analysis. Furthermore, the editorial discusses emerging therapeutic strategies, particularly telomerase-targeted immunotherapies, underscoring their potential to advance precision oncology in hepatocellular carcinoma and other malignancies.
