Sherief DE, Shehata HH, Nosair N, Othman AAA, Sadaka E, Elgamal R. Dual-parameter liquid biopsy using plasma miR-21-5p and T cell LAIR-1 mean fluorescence intensity for hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis in a high-risk Egyptian cohort. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; 18(3): 116567 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v18.i3.116567]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Amira Ahmed Abdelrahman Othman, MD, PhD, Lecturer, Principal Investigator, Department of Internal Medicine, Suez University, Cairo-Suez Road, Suez 43511, Egypt. amira.othman@med.suezuni.edu.eg
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Mar 15, 2026 (publication date) through Mar 12, 2026
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Journal Information of This Article
Publication Name
World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology
ISSN
1948-5204
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Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Sherief DE, Shehata HH, Nosair N, Othman AAA, Sadaka E, Elgamal R. Dual-parameter liquid biopsy using plasma miR-21-5p and T cell LAIR-1 mean fluorescence intensity for hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis in a high-risk Egyptian cohort. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; 18(3): 116567 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v18.i3.116567]
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Mar 15, 2026; 18(3): 116567 Published online Mar 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v18.i3.116567
Dual-parameter liquid biopsy using plasma miR-21-5p and T cell LAIR-1 mean fluorescence intensity for hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis in a high-risk Egyptian cohort
Dalia E Sherief, Hadeer Hamdy Shehata, Nahla Nosair, Amira Ahmed Abdelrahman Othman, Emad Sadaka, Rasha Elgamal
Dalia E Sherief, Hadeer Hamdy Shehata, Nahla Nosair, Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El Sheikh 33511, Egypt
Amira Ahmed Abdelrahman Othman, Department of Internal Medicine, Suez University, Suez 43511, Egypt
Emad Sadaka, Department of Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El Sheikh 33511, Egypt
Rasha Elgamal, Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez University, Suez 43511, Egypt
Author contributions: Sherief DE, Nosair N, Shehata HH, and Sadaka E conceptualized and designed the study; Sherief DE, Nosair N, Shehata HH, Sadaka E, and Othman AAA collected and analyzed the data; Othman AAA performed statistical analysis and interpreted the results; Sherief DE, Nosair N, Shehata HH, Sadaka E, Othman AAA, and Elgamal R drafted and critically revised the manuscript; All authors approved the final version to be published and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Institutional review board statement: Ethical approval was gained according to the Scientific Research Ethics Committee of Kafrelsheikh University, No. KFSIRB200-107.
Informed consent statement: All subjects were informed and gave their voluntary, written informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No additional data are available.
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: All relevant data are included in this published article.
Corresponding author: Amira Ahmed Abdelrahman Othman, MD, PhD, Lecturer, Principal Investigator, Department of Internal Medicine, Suez University, Cairo-Suez Road, Suez 43511, Egypt. amira.othman@med.suezuni.edu.eg
Received: November 14, 2025 Revised: November 20, 2025 Accepted: December 24, 2025 Published online: March 15, 2026 Processing time: 118 Days and 19.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Early, accurate, and noninvasive diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a major clinical challenge, particularly in Egypt, where hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis is prevalent. This study introduced a novel dual-parameter liquid biopsy combining plasma miR-21-5p (a tumor-derived oncogenic microRNA) and T cell leukocyte-associated immunoglobulin-like receptor-1 mean fluorescence intensity (an immune checkpoint marker). In a prospective Egyptian cohort, this approach achieved exceptional diagnostic accuracy (area under the curve > 0.99) and maintained high sensitivity in early-stage and α-fetoprotein-negative HCC. The findings proposed an integrated molecular-immune diagnostic pathway that could substantially improve HCC surveillance and early detection in high-risk populations.
