©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 7, 2015; 21(37): 10573-10583
Published online Oct 7, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i37.10573
Published online Oct 7, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i37.10573
Biomarkers for the early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma
Nobuhiro Tsuchiya, Yu Sawada, Itaru Endo, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, Yokohama 236-0027, Japan
Nobuhiro Tsuchiya, Keigo Saito, Yasushi Uemura, Tetsuya Nakatsura, Division of Cancer Immunotherapy, Exploratory Oncology Research and Clinical Trial Center, National Cancer Center, Kashiwa 277-8577, Japan
Author contributions: Tsuchiya N and Nakatsura T drafted the manuscript; Sawada Y, Endo I, Saito K and Uemura Y revised the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest or financial ties to disclose.
Correspondence to: Tetsuya Nakatsura, MD, PhD, Chief, Division of Cancer Immunotherapy, Exploratory Oncology Research and Clinical Trial Center, National Cancer Center, 6-5-1 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa 277-8577, Japan. tnakatsu@east.ncc.go.jp
Telephone: +81-4-71315490 Fax: +81-4-71336606
Received: March 17, 2015
Peer-review started: March 18, 2015
First decision: April 23, 2015
Revised: May 21, 2015
Accepted: August 31, 2015
Article in press: August 31, 2015
Published online: October 7, 2015
Processing time: 195 Days and 8.3 Hours
Peer-review started: March 18, 2015
First decision: April 23, 2015
Revised: May 21, 2015
Accepted: August 31, 2015
Article in press: August 31, 2015
Published online: October 7, 2015
Processing time: 195 Days and 8.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The poor prognosis of HCC is due to the fact that diagnosis is often made at a late stage in disease development. Thus, the identification of biomarkers for diagnosis at an early stage may result in significant benefits. An up-to-date review of biomarkers that are currently used for the early diagnosis of HCC is provided in this article.