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Purposes: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of ultrasound (US)-, computed tomography (CT)-, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 141 patients with HCC who were treated with US-guided (n = 29), CT-guided (n = 50), or MRI-guided RFA (n = 62). The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). The secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS), technique success (TS), and technique efficacy (TE). Cox model and logistic regression were used to determine the risk factors for tumor recurrence and TE.Results: The US, CT, and MRI groups did not show a significant difference in terms of baseline variables. The three groups did not differ significantly in PFS rate (P = 0.072) and OS rate (P = 0.231). The PFS rates at 3 years for the US, CT, and MRI groups were 40.90%, not reached, and 14.80%, respectively. The OS rates at 3 years were 94.70%, 97.50%, and 85.50% for US, CT, and MRI groups, respectively. No significant differences were observed between the three groups in terms of TS rate (P = 0.113) and TE rate (P = 0.682). In multivariate analysis, liver cirrhosis (P = 0.001), level of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP, P = 0.004), and number of tumors (P = 0.012) were independent risk factors for PFS. For TE, the level of AFP (P = 0.018) was an independent factor.Conclusion: US-, CT-, and MRI-guided RFA was effective for treating HCC patients. Liver cirrhosis, AFP level, and tumor number were associated with tumor recurrence, and the level of AFP was an independent risk factor affecting TE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) play an important role in pathogenesis and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, circRNA expression profiles in hepatitis B Virus (HBV)-related HCC remain to be studied. METHODS: Total 13 HBV-related HCC patients were enrolled for study. Three HCC and 3 paired adjacent non-tumorous (NT) tissues from 3 patients were performed for microarray. Ten pairs of HCC tissues were used to verify the identified up-regulated and down-regulated circRNAs obtained from the microarray data by quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Total RNA was isolated and treated with Rnase R to remove linear RNA, then hybridized to the array to screen for circRNAs. Bioinformatics analyses including clustering, differential expression, annotation of circRNA/microRNA (miRNA) interactions, Go analysis and KEGG pathway analysis, were performed. RESULTS: Based on the microarray data, we found significantly up-regulation of 24 circRNAs and down-regulation of 23 circRNAs in the HCC samples compared to NT samples (fold change ⩾ 2.0 and P < 0.05). Of them, 6 candidate circRNAs (hsa_circRNA_102814, 100381, 103489, 101764, 100327, and 103361) were verified by qRT-PCR. Of them, hsa_circRNA 100381, 103489 up-regulation and 101764 down-regulation were found to be significantly different in the 10 validation HCC tissue. Clusters of circRNAs were aberrantly expressed in HCC compared with NT samples. CircRNA_101764 was the largest nodes in circRNA/microRNA co-expression network, especially co-expression with hsa-miR-181 family, which plays an important role in cell network. Annotation of circRNA/miRNA interactions indicated that the biological effects of circRNA may be achieved by binding of miRNAs. GO analysis revealed that numerous target genes were involved in the biological processes, cellular component and molecular function. There was nearly 30 target genes enrichment on KEGG pathways analysis, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway which the most number of genes involved. CONCLUSION: In this study, we comprehensively explored the expression of differentially expressed circRNAs in HBV-related HCC, and our results indicate that circRNA_101764 may play an important role in the development of HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study describes circular RNA (circRNA) profiles in three pairs of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and the corresponding adjacent non-tumorous tissues (NTs) by microarray. circRNA is a type of endogenous RNA that serve a crucial role in disease development and aberrantly express in a number of types of cancer. In the present study, 3 paired HCC tissues and paired adjacent NTs were collected from HCC surgical specimens from 3 hepatitis B virus-infected patients with HCC. With abundant and varied probes accounting for 5,396 circRNAs, a large number of circRNAs are able to be quantitatively determined. Based on the microarray data, 222,567,556 upregulated circRNAs and 125,439,219 downregulated circRNAs were identified respectively. Further analysis revealed 24 upregulated and 23 downregulated significantly circRNAs (fold-change ≥2; P≤0.05) in HCC tissues compared with NTs. By means of computer analysis and database inquiring, the microRNA (miRNA) response elements associated with the abnormally expressed circRNAs were annotated. The present study showed novel evidence determining genome-wide circRNA expression patterns in HCC using microarray analysis. The results demonstrated that clusters of circRNAs were aberrantly expressed in HCC compared with NTs. These circRNAs may be involved in the occurrence and development of HCC. Therefore, the results of the present study may provide a novel approach for improving the understanding of the molecular basis of HCC. Furthermore, the identified circRNAs may be potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]