Blood DNA Is Early Predictor of Liver Cancer

Scientists examined changes in certain tumor-suppressor genes that have been associated with the development of liver carcinomas. Using DNA isolated from serum samples as a baseline biomarker, they examined potential biomarkers for early detection of liver cancer in high-risk populations, including those with chronic hepatitis B and C virus infections.

Since most hepatocellular or liver carcinomas (HCCs) are diagnosed at an advanced and usually fatal stage, the development of screening methods for early detection is critical. HCC is one of the most common and rapidly fatal human malignancies. Worldwide, the almost 500,000 new cases and nearly equivalent number of fatalities illustrate the lack of effective therapeutic alternatives or this disease.

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health (New York, NY, USA) scientists and colleagues studied the blood of patients enrolled in a cancer-screening program in Taiwan, who provided repeated blood samples prior to diagnosis. A total of 12,000 males and over 11,900 females recruited in 1991-2 are being followed. Screenings performed by the team of Mailman School scientists found changes associated with cancer in serum DNA, presumably released from the tumor, one to nine years before actual clinical diagnosis.

Certain clinical risk factors such as age and hepatitis B and C virus infections are well-documented risk factors for the development of HCC. According to the study findings, these factors coupled with smoking and alcohol status, and alterations found in this study in serum DNA, resulted in an overall predictive accuracy of 89% for detection of HCC.

"These are extremely encouraging findings,” said Regina Santella, Ph.D., professor of environmental health sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health, director of the Columbia's NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan, and principal investigator on the research. "Having the tools to identify hepatocellular carcinoma at earlier stages, is truly a breakthrough for addressing the challenges that result from this highly lethal form of cancer.”

The full study findings appeared in the April 15, 2007, issue of Clinical Cancer Research.


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Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health