Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 7, 2022; 28(29): 3971-3980
Published online Aug 7, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i29.3971
Effects of microwave ablation on serum Golgi protein 73 in patients with primary liver cancer
Zheng-Ju Xu, Mei-Juan Wei, Xiao-Man Zhang, Hui-Guo Liu, Jin-Piao Wu, Jin-Fa Huang, Yong-Fei Li, Zhi-Jie Huang, Yan-Yan Yan
Zheng-Ju Xu, Hui-Guo Liu, Jin-Piao Wu, Jin-Fa Huang, Yong-Fei Li, Zhi-Jie Huang, Yan-Yan Yan, The Liver Disease Center, The 910th Hospital of the PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Quanzhou 362000, Fujian Province, China
Mei-Juan Wei, Central Laboratory, Decheng Hospital, Quanzhou 362104, Fujian Province, China
Xiao-Man Zhang, Central Laboratory of Clinical Hepatology, The 910th Hospital of the PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, Quanzhou 362000, Fujian Province, China
Author contributions: Xu ZJ carried out the design, coordination of experimental work, manuscript writing, and also performed the microwave ablation procedure; Wei MJ and Zhang XM participated in the study design and data analysis; Liu HG, Wu JP, Huang JF, Li YF, Huang ZJ, and Yan YY participated in data collection and analysis; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the Military Medical Science and Technology Committee of China, No. 14MS095; and the Quanzhou Science and Technology Planning Project, No. 2017Z018.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the 910th Hospital of the PLA Joint Logistics Support Force Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Xu ZJ has received research funding from the Military Medical Science and Technology Committee of China, No. 14MS095, and grants from the Quanzhou Science and Technology Planning Project, No. 2017Z018, during the conduct of the study.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix and dataset available from the corresponding author at " h180@163.com". Participants gave informed consent for data sharing.
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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zheng-Ju Xu, MD, Chief Doctor, The Liver Disease Center, The 910th Hospital of the PLA Joint Logistics Support Force, No. 180 Huayuan Road, Fengze District, Quanzhou 362000, Fujian Province, China. h180@163.com
Received: February 21, 2022
Peer-review started: February 21, 2022
First decision: April 16, 2022
Revised: April 30, 2022
Accepted: July 5, 2022
Article in press: July 5, 2022
Published online: August 7, 2022
Processing time: 163 Days and 4.8 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Microwave ablation (MWA) has been proven to be highly effective in treatment of small primary liver cancer. However, the procedure may trigger an inflammatory response and cause liver injury in primary liver cancer patients undergoing MWA. As such, it is needed to find reliable markers to monitor and evaluate patient response to MWA. Previous studies have shown that Golgi protein 73 (GP73) are associated with liver inflammatory injury.

Research motivation

This study was designed to test our hypothesis that serum GP73 levels altered in response to MWA in patients with primary liver cancer, and thereby could be used as a potential marker for MWA-induced liver inflammation and injury.

Research objectives

The main objective of this study was to examine effects of MWA on the serum levels of GP73 before and at different time points after the ablation procedure in patients with primary liver cancer.

Research methods

Patients with primary liver cancer (≤ 3 cm in diameter) receiving MWA were retrospectively enrolled in this study. Serum GP73 levels were compared before and 1, 2, and 4 wk after the ablation procedure.

Research results

The serum GP73 levels were significantly elevated at 1 and 2 wk after MWA with the peak at 2 wk after completion of the treatment. The serum GP73 levels decreased starting at 4 wk after MWA and continued to decline to the pretreatment level at 12 and 24 wk after MWA. It was worthy to note that the alterations of serum GP73 levels in response to MWA were similar to those of liver biochemical indicators.

Research conclusions

The findings of this study have demonstrated that serum GP73 levels altered in response to MWA in patients with primary liver cancer, and thereby measurement of serum GP73 level holds potential as a biomarker for monitoring and assessment of MWA-mediated inflammatory injury in patients with primary liver cancer.

Research perspectives

Future prospective studies are needed to validate the findings and to assess the diagnostic accuracy of serum GP73 for monitoring liver injury following MWA treatment for primary liver cancer.