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Aim: Although the survival rate after living‐donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is improving, sepsis still limits the prognosis. Immune dysfunction and sarcopenia are often observed in LDLT patients, and increase susceptibility to infection. Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a myokine produced by immune cells and skeletal muscle. We aimed to determine whether serum BDNF could be a feasible biomarker for sepsis of LDLT patients. Methods: We measured serum samples from 124 patients who underwent LDLT and 9 healthy volunteers for BDNF. We examined its correlation with incidence rate of sepsis. To clarify the source of BDNF, we examined its expression in lymphocytes, skeletal muscle cells, and hepatocytes. Results: Patients who experienced sepsis showed worse short‐term survival. Preoperative serum BDNF was lower in LDLT patients compared with healthy volunteers, and was also lower in Child–Pugh C compared with Child–Pugh A or B. Serum BDNF was inversely correlated with Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease and controlling nutritional status (CONUT) scores, but had a weak positive correlation with skeletal muscle mass index (SMI). Multivariate analysis revealed that serum BDNF was independently associated with sepsis. Preoperative serum BDNF was a better predictor of sepsis in LDLT patients than CONUT score or SMI. Serum BDNF was positively correlated with lymphocyte counts, especially T cells. In vitro, T cells and skeletal muscle cells produced BDNF. Conclusions: Preoperative serum BDNF could be a predictive biomarker for sepsis after LDLT, by reflecting the systemic condition including hepatic function, nutritional status, and immune status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Systemic inflammation has been correlated with worse survival for some cancers. We evaluated prognostic values of various inflammatory factor combinations in patients who underwent resections for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: We retrospectively analysed 306 consecutive patients with HCC who underwent curative liver resections. After assessing eight combinations of inflammatory markers for predictive value for recurrence, we focused on lymphocyte-to-C-reactive protein ratio (LCR) to elucidate its associations with recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) in univariate and multivariate analyses (Cox proportional hazards model). We also used immunohistochemical CD34 and CD8 staining to investigate the mechanism of LCR elevation. Results: LCR showed the highest association with RFS in HCC patients among the compared indices. High preoperative LCR correlated with a high serum albumin concentration, small tumour size, early Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage and low rates of microscopic vascular invasion and microscopic intrahepatic metastasis. Higher preoperative LCR was an independent predictor of longer RFS and OS in this cohort. High LCR patients had fewer vessels encapsulating tumour clusters, and higher intratumoural CD8+ T-cell counts than low LCR patients. Conclusions: Preoperative LCR is a novel and convenient prognostic marker for patients with HCC, and is associated with the tumour microenvironment immune status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]