Published in:
01-05-2013 | Original Paper
Hepatocellular carcinoma patients with increased oxidative stress levels are prone to recurrence after curative treatment: a prospective case series study using the d-ROM test
Published in: Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology | Issue 5/2013
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Purpose
Oxidative stress plays an important role in liver carcinogenesis. To determine the impact of oxidative stress on the recurrence of stage I/II hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative treatment, we conducted a prospective case series analysis.
Methods
This study included 45 consecutive patients with stage I/II HCC, who underwent curative treatment by surgical resection or radiofrequency ablation at Gifu Municipal Hospital from 2006 to 2007. In these 45 cases, recurrence-free survival was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method. The factors contributing to HCC recurrence, including the serum levels of derivatives of reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROM) as an index of oxidative stress, were subjected to univariate and multivariate analyses using the Cox proportional hazards model.
Results
The serum levels of d-ROM (P = 0.0231), α-fetoprotein (AFP, P = 0.0274), and fasting plasma glucose (P = 0.0400) were significantly associated with HCC recurrence in the univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis showed that the serum levels of d-ROM (hazard ratio [HR] 1.0038, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.0002–1.0071, P = 0.0392) and AFP (HR 1.0002, 95 % CI 1.0000–1.0003, P = 0.0316) were independent predictors of HCC recurrence. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that recurrence-free survival was low in patients with high serum d-ROM (≥570 Carr U, P = 0.0036) and serum AFP (≥40 ng/dL, P = 0.0185) levels.
Conclusions
The serum levels of d-ROM and AFP can be used for screening patients with a high risk for HCC recurrence. Patients who show increased levels of these factors require careful surveillance.