Abstract 1017: A novel blood diagnostic method for fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FLC) is an often-lethal liver cancer affecting primarily children and young adults. The disease presents with vague symptoms, and, as a result, it is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. Thus, there is a high recurrence rate among those who undergo surgical resection. Diagnostic tests based on scans are differentially interpreted by pathologists and radiological, and scans often miss small tumors. We are developing tests for FLC based on metabolites and nucleic acids in the blood and in the urine. We used samples from 29 FLC patients and 9 age/gender-matched healthy donors. A clinical testing lab was used to quantify the plasma for Vitamin B12, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), estrogen (E2), and liver panel (albumin, alkaline phosphatase, alanine transaminase, aspartate transferase, creatine kinase, direct bilirubin, total bilirubin, total protein, globulin). We found no difference between FLC vs. non-FLC subjects in the liver panel tests. In addition, there is no difference between the AFP and E2 tests. Vitamin B12 levels were about 8.5 times higher (p<0.05) in FLC patients compared to healthy donors. We are currently validating other protein and metabolite markers in the blood and urine, and C-reactive protein in blood and orotic acid in urine. In nucleic acid assays, we found specific miRNAs increased in the circulation. These included: miR-122-5p, miR-514a-5p, miR-192-5p, miR-615-5p, miR-4532, miR-4322, miR-214-3p, and miR-122-3p. They were upregulated 8- to 21-fold in FLC (n= 24) vs. non-FLC patients (n=16). These results identified biomarkers and microRNAs associated with FLC tumors. The tests are currently being evaluated as part of a larger study to determine whether they can detect recurrence of disease and help assess therapeutic responses in FLC patients. Citation Format: Ruisi Wang, Arlene M. Hurley, Sanford M. Simon. A novel blood diagnostic method for fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 1017.