Serum exosomal hnRNPH1 mRNA as a novel marker for hepatocellular carcinoma

Distinctive exosomal contents could be useful for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. However, little is known about whether serum exosomal heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein H1 (hnRNPH1) mRNA is a satisfactory biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Two hundred and ninety-one participants divided into four age- and gender-matched groups, including a HCC group (n=88), a liver cirrhosis (LC) group (n=67), a chronic hepatitis B (CHB) group (n=68) and a healthy control group (n=68), were enrolled. Serum exosomal hnRNPH1 mRNA and GAPDH mRNA were measured using TaqMan real-time PCR, and the relative expression levels were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to evaluate the effectiveness of hnRNPH1 mRNA alone and in combination with α-fetoprotein (AFP) in the diagnosis of HCC. The correlation between hnRNPH1 mRNA levels and clinicopathological characteristics and overall survival (OS) in HCC was determined.

The serum exosomal hnRNPH1 mRNA levels in HCC patients were remarkably higher than in the other groups (p<0.05). The hnRNPH1 mRNA discriminated HCC from CHB with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.865, with sensitivity of 85.2% and specificity of 76.5% at cut-off value of 0.670. The AUC for hnRNPH1 mRNA in combination with AFP was further improved. The exosomal hnRNPH1 mRNA levels in HCC patients were associated with the Child-Pugh classification, portal vein tumor emboli, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage and OS (p<0.05).

These findings suggested that serum exosomal hnRNPH1 mRNA could be an effective marker for HCC in high HBV prevalence areas.