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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Nov 27, 2025; 17(11): 112364
Published online Nov 27, 2025. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i11.112364
Published online Nov 27, 2025. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i11.112364
Molecular biomarkers of sintilimab plus lenvatinib in hepatitis-B-virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma
Li-Jun Wang, Hong-Wei Wang, Ming Liu, Ke-Min Jin, Kun Wang, Bao-Cai Xing, Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery Unit I, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research, Ministry of Education, Beijing Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing 100142, China
Yong Cui, Department of Radiology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research, Ministry of Education, Beijing Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing 100142, China
Yong Cui, Department of Radiology, Peking University Cancer Hospital (Inner Mongolia Campus)/Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Inner Mongolia Cancer Center, Hohhot 010010, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
Long-Fei Huang, Jing-Qing Zhang, Ting-Ting Zhao, Research Institute, GloriousMed Clinical Laboratory Co., Ltd., Shanghai 201318, China
Co-first authors: Li-Jun Wang and Yong Cui.
Co-corresponding authors: Ming Liu and Bao-Cai Xing.
Author contributions: Wang LJ, Cui Y, and Liu M performed the research and were responsible for data acquisition, Li-Jun Wang and Yong Cui contributed equally to this manuscript as co-first authors; Wang LJ, Wang HW, Liu M, Jin KM, and Wang K contributed to new reagents and analytic tools; Wang LJ, Huang LF, Zhang JQ, and Zhao TT analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; Liu M and Xing BC edited and reviewed the manuscript and they contributed equally to this manuscript as co-corresponding authors; Xing BC conceived and designed the research. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Clinical Research Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of Beijing Cancer Hospital, No. LGH2019101 and No. LGH2022005; and Special Fund for Clinical Research of Wu Jieping Medical Foundation, No. 320.6750.19088-38.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Peking University Cancer Hospital (approval No. 2019YJZ29-Z-ZY02).
Informed consent statement: All participants provided written informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
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: Bao-Cai Xing, MD, Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery Unit I, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research, Ministry of Education, Beijing Cancer Hospital and Institute, No. 52 Fucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100142, China. xingbaocai88@sina.com
Received: July 25, 2025
Revised: August 28, 2025
Accepted: October 22, 2025
Published online: November 27, 2025
Processing time: 125 Days and 21.6 Hours
Revised: August 28, 2025
Accepted: October 22, 2025
Published online: November 27, 2025
Processing time: 125 Days and 21.6 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: The efficacy of sintilimab plus lenvatinib in hepatocellular carcinoma is highly variable. This study integrated RNA sequencing, immune profiling, and whole-exome sequencing to identify predictive biomarkers. High long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 01554 expression, elevated CD4+ central memory T cells, and solitary tumors were independent predictors of prolonged progression-free survival. These findings highlight the potential of molecular and immune markers to guide individualized treatment strategies in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.