ISSN: 1837-9664Journal of Cancer
Global reach, higher impact
J Cancer 2020; 11(8):2171-2180. doi:10.7150/jca.39615 This issue Cite
Research Paper
Prognostic Value of Albumin-to-Alkaline Phosphatase Ratio in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients Treated with Liver Transplantation
1. Department of Hepatic Surgery and Liver Transplantation Center, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510630, China.
2. Department of Liver Surgery, Liver Transplantation Division, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China.
3. Guangdong Key Laboratory of Liver Disease Research, Key Laboratory of Liver disease biotherapy and Translational Medicine of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510630, China.
* These authors contributed equally to this study.
Abstract
Background: The albumin-to-alkaline phosphatase ratio (AAPR) is a newly developed index which was used to predict prognosis of HCC patients. However, its prognostic role in HCC patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT) remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between AAPR and prognosis of these patients.
Methods: A total of 210 patients who underwent LT from January 2003 to January 2014 were retrospectively analyzed (149 for discovery and 61 for validation). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the discriminative ability of the AAPR in predicting long-term survival. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) was calculated to compare the accuracy of different factors.
Results: Patients with high AAPR level were associated with less ascites rate (30.6% versus 53.2%, P=0.033) as well as more frequencies of Child-Pugh class A (73.6% versus 35.1%, P=0.001). Univariate and multivariate analyses suggested the AAPR was independent prognostic factor in predicting overall survival (HR: 0.585, 95% CI: 0.363-0.941, P=0.027). Validation cohort confirmed prognostic value of AAPR. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that reduced AAPR level was associated with worse prognosis in HCC patients categorized in Child-Pugh class A (P=0.029). The AUCs of the AAPR were 0.710 and 0.744 in predicting 3-year and 5-year survival outcomes, respectively.
Conclusions: The study showed in two independent cohorts of HCC patients treated by LT that elevated AAPR was associated with better OS. As a low-cost routine laboratory test, it should be considered as biomarker in the clinical management of HCC.
Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, liver transplantation, albumin-to-alkaline phosphatase ratio, prognosis
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