The potential of PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma: a prospective United Kingdom cohort study

Vandana M Sagar, Kathyrn Herring, Stuart Curbishley, James Hodson, Peter Fletcher, Salil Karkhanis, Homoyon Mehrzad, Pankaj Punia, Tahir Shah, Shishir Shetty, Yuk Ting Ma

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Abstract

Prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence II (PIVKA-II) has recently been validated internationally as a diagnostic biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as part of the GALAD model. However, its role as a treatment response biomarker has been less well explored. We, therefore, undertook a prospective study at a tertiary centre in the UK to evaluate the role of PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker in patients with early, intermediate and advanced stage HCC. In a cohort of 141 patients, we found that PIVKA-II levels tracked concordantly with treatment response in the majority of patients, across a range of different treatment modalities. We also found that rises in PIVKA-II levels almost always predated radiological progression. Among AFP non-secretors, PIVKA-II was found to be informative in 60% of cases. In a small cohort of patients undergoing liver transplantation, pre-transplant PIVKA-II levels predicted for microvascular invasion and poorer differentiation. Our results demonstrate the potential utility of PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker and in predicting microvascular invasion, in a Western population. PIVKA-II demonstrated improved performance over AFP but, as a single biomarker, its performance was still limited. Further larger prospective studies are recommended to evaluate PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker, within the GALAD model.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2338-2350
Number of pages13
JournalOncoTarget
Volume12
Issue number24
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Nov 2021

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