Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly aggressive form of liver cancer with poor prognosis. The lack of reliable biomarkers for early detection and accurate diagnosis and prognosis poses a significant challenge to its effective clinical management. In this study, we investigated the diagnostic and prognostic potential of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in HCC. PD-1 and CTLA-4 gene expression was analyzed comparatively using PBMCs collected from HCC patients and healthy individuals. The results revealed higher PD-1 gene expression levels in patients with multifocal tumors, lymphatic invasion, or distant metastasis than those in their control counterparts. However, conventional serum biomarkers of liver function do not exhibit similar correlations. In conclusion, PD-1 gene expression is associated with OS and PFS and CTLA-4 gene expression is associated with OS, whereas the serum biomarkers analyzed in this study show no significant correlation with survival in HCC. Hence, PD-1 and CTLA-4 expressed in PBMCs are considered potential prognostic biomarkers for patients with HCC that can facilitate prediction of malignancy, response to currently available HCC treatments, and overall survival.
肝细胞癌（HCC）是一种侵袭性强、预后不良的肝癌。由于缺乏可靠的生物标志物用于早期检测及精准诊断与预后评估，其临床有效管理面临重大挑战。本研究探讨了外周血单个核细胞（PBMCs）中程序性死亡蛋白1（PD-1）和细胞毒性T淋巴细胞相关蛋白4（CTLA-4）表达在HCC中的诊断与预后价值。通过对比分析HCC患者与健康个体PBMCs中PD-1和CTLA-4的基因表达水平，结果显示：与对照组相比，多灶性肿瘤、淋巴侵犯或远处转移患者的PD-1基因表达水平显著升高，而传统肝功能血清标志物未呈现类似相关性。结论表明，PD-1基因表达与总生存期（OS）和无进展生存期（PFS）相关，CTLA-4基因表达与OS相关，而本研究涉及的血清标志物与HCC患者生存期无显著关联。因此，PBMCs中表达的PD-1与CTLA-4可作为HCC潜在的预后生物标志物，有助于预测恶性肿瘤进展、现有治疗方案的反应性及患者总体生存情况。
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家