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Diagnostic performance of circulating cell-free DNA for hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and
Jinmei Zhang1, Yuan Yuan1, Shuxia Gao2
1Department of Infectious Diseases, Weifang Yidu Central Hospital, Qingzhou 262500, China.
Insights
Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) shows promising diagnostic accuracy for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This meta-analysis indicates cfDNA is a valuable tool for distinguishing HCC patients from healthy individuals.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Molecular Diagnostics
- Biomarkers
Background:
- Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) presents a significant global health challenge.
- Accurate and early diagnostic methods for HCC are crucial for effective management.
- Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) has emerged as a potential non-invasive biomarker.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the diagnostic performance of cfDNA in identifying hepatocellular carcinoma.
- To systematically review and quantitatively synthesize existing research on cfDNA for HCC detection.
Main Methods:
- A systematic literature search was conducted to identify relevant studies.
- Bivariate linear mixed-effects models were employed for meta-analysis.
- Key diagnostic metrics including sensitivity, specificity, and AUC were integrated.
Main Results:
- Thirty-eight studies were included in the quantitative synthesis.
- The pooled sensitivity and specificity for cfDNA in detecting HCC were 0.54 and 0.90, respectively.
- The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) was 0.82, indicating good diagnostic value.
Conclusions:
- Circulating cell-free DNA demonstrates promising diagnostic accuracy for hepatocellular carcinoma detection.
- cfDNA serves as a valuable biomarker for differentiating HCC patients from healthy controls.
- Further research may solidify cfDNA's role in clinical HCC diagnostics.
Abstract:
Background: We aimed to assess the diagnostic performance of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Materials & methods: After a systematic literature search bivariate linear mixed models were used to integrate sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio and diagnostic odds ratio. The area under receiver operating characteristics curves of the included studies was used to estimate the diagnostic value. Results: Thirty-eight articles enrolled in quantitative synthesis. In overall analysis the pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio and area under receiver operating characteristics curves for cfDNA in distinguishing HCC patients from healthy controls were 0.54, 0.90, 5.23, 0.51, 10.27 and 0.82, respectively. Conclusion: This study suggests that cfDNA has a promising diagnostic accuracy in detection of HCC.
