Plasma GH as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in HCC without cirrhosis.
227 Background: The association between the GH/IGF-1 axis and HCC was reported in patients (pt) with underlying cirrhosis. However, there is limited information among HCC pt without (w/o) cirrhosis. We herein investigated the role of GH as a circulating biomarker for HCC diagnosis and prognosis in pt w/o cirrhosis. Methods: Under IRB approval, we prospectively enrolled 1267 newly-diagnosed HCC pt in a case control study at the MD Anderson Cancer Center (2000-2015). Controls were healthy individuals (n = 1104). Plasma GH and AFP were measured 274 HCC pt w/o cirrhosis 200 healthy controls. IGF-1 was measured in 133 and 82 pt, respectively. We classified HCC pt into higher and lower GH values (cutoff for women, 3.7 µg/L; men, > 0.9 µg/L). Results: Most pt (74%) were male, with advanced BCLC staging (C-D, 74%) and 61% were older than 60y. Baseline GH was higher in HCC w/o cirrhosis (mean 3.3 µg/L) than controls (mean 0.4 µg/) (p < .001). ROC curve was plotted to assess diagnostic role. The AUC for AFP was 82.9 (p < .001); for GH 78.2 (p < .001). When only non-cirrhotic HCC pt with early stage (CLIP 0-2) and AFP < 20 ng/m were compared to controls, the GH/IGF-1 ratio had high prediction of early stage HCC - AUC 83 (95% CI 78-89%) (p < .0001). At a specificity of 90%, sensitivity of GH/IGF ratio was 67%. In addition, among HCC w/o cirrhosis, higher GH levels correlated with presence of vascular invasion (p < .001) and thrombosis (p = .004), tumor involvement of > 50% liver (p = .003), and more advanced BCLC (p < .001) and TNM staging (p < .001). Median overall survival (months) of HCC pt w/o cirrhosis with high GH levels was 13.1 (10.8-15.4) compared to 37.4 (19.8-55.1) of pt with lower plasma GH (p < .001). Multivariate cox-regression analysis identified high GH as an independent risk factor for mortality (HR = 1.8; 95% CI, 1.3-2.4; p < .001). Conclusions: Our study demonstrates the diagnostic and prognostic role of plasma GH in non-cirrhotic HCC and identifies the GH/IGF-1 ratio as a promising diagnostic marker for early stage HCC w/o cirrhosis and low AFP; this analysis excludes the confounding effect hepatocyte impaired function by presence of cirrhosis. Further studies are warranted to assess the causes of the observed differences.