Serum adiponectin is associated with worsened overall survival in a prospective cohort of hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. The rise in metabolic syndrome has contributed to this trend. Adipokines, such as adiponectin, are associated with prognosis in several cancers, but have not been well studied in HCC. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 140 patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent HCC with Child-Pugh (CP) class A or B cirrhosis. We examined associations between serum adipokines, clinicopathological features of HCC, and time to death. We also examined a subset of tumors with available pathology for tissue adiponectin receptor (AR) expression by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The median age of subjects was 62 years; 79% were men, 59% had underlying hepatitis C, and 36% were diabetic. Adiponectin remained a significant predictor of time to death (hazard ratio 1.90; 95% confidence interval 1.05-3.45; p = 0.03) in a multivariable adjusted model that included age, alcohol history, CP class, stage, and serum α-fetoprotein level. Cytoplasmic AR expression (AR1 and AR2) in tumors trended higher in those with higher serum adiponectin levels and in those with diabetes mellitus, but the association was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: In this hypothesis-generating study, we found the serum adiponectin level to be an independent predictor of overall survival in a diverse cohort of HCC patients. IMPACT: Understanding how adipokines affect the HCC outcome may help develop novel treatment and prevention strategies.

publication date

  • October 3, 2014

Research

keywords

  • Adiponectin
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular
  • Liver Neoplasms

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC4275375

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 84927916614

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1159/000367971

PubMed ID

  • 25300295

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 88

issue

  • 1