Huayong Cai1, Yu Zhang2, Haoyun Zhang3, Chao Cui3, Chonghui Li4, Shichun Lu1,3. 1. Nankai University School of Medicine, Tianjin, China. 2. Department of Radiology, The Second Hospital, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China. 3. Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China. 4. Institute of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM: This study aimed to assess the potential relationship between tumor mutation burden (TMB) and the recurrence risk of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) after curative resection and tried to develop a reliable TMB based nomogram. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted in 128 patients (40 patients suffered from a recurrence of HCC) who had received radical hepatectomy by the same surgical team. A nomogram model was constructed using the R and EmpowerStats software. RESULTS: TMB was not associated with maximum tumor size and the presence of microvascular invasion (MVI). In the whole population or subgroups, the recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate was significantly lower in the TMB high group. In multivariate analysis, TMB (hazard ratio [HR], 10.12; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.03-20.31; P < .001), large tumor diameter (HR, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.51-5.63; P = .001), presence of MVI (HR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.03-3.65; P = .042) were independent predictors of RFS. The predictive power of the nomogram integrating TMB, tumor size and MVI was higher than model only incorporating tumor size and MVI. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated for the first time that higher TMB was associated with poor prognosis in patients with HCC who had received curative resection, and a TMB based nomogram model had a well predictive performance for RFS in this population.
BACKGROUND AND AIM: This study aimed to assess the potential relationship between tumor mutation burden (TMB) and the recurrence risk of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) after curative resection and tried to develop a reliable TMB based nomogram. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted in 128 patients (40 patients suffered from a recurrence of HCC) who had received radical hepatectomy by the same surgical team. A nomogram model was constructed using the R and EmpowerStats software. RESULTS: TMB was not associated with maximum tumor size and the presence of microvascular invasion (MVI). In the whole population or subgroups, the recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate was significantly lower in the TMB high group. In multivariate analysis, TMB (hazard ratio [HR], 10.12; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.03-20.31; P < .001), large tumor diameter (HR, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.51-5.63; P = .001), presence of MVI (HR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.03-3.65; P = .042) were independent predictors of RFS. The predictive power of the nomogram integrating TMB, tumor size and MVI was higher than model only incorporating tumor size and MVI. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated for the first time that higher TMB was associated with poor prognosis in patients with HCC who had received curative resection, and a TMB based nomogram model had a well predictive performance for RFS in this population.