Dr Ying Jiang, Beijing Institute of Lifeomics, Beijing, China
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of deaths from cancer worldwide. Infection with the hepatitis B virus is one of the leading risk factors for developing HCC, particularly in East Asia. Although surgical treatment may be effective in the early stages, the five-year overall rate of survival after developing this cancer is only 50–70%. Proteomic and phospho-proteomic profiling of 110 paired tumour and non-tumour tissues of HCC stratifies HBV-related early-stage disease into 3 prognostic subtypes. The disrupted cholesterol homeostasis is characterized in the subtype associated with the lowest overall rate of survival and the greatest risk of a poor prognosis after first-line surgery. Moreover, targeting SOAT1 (either knock-down or inhibitor treatment) suggests opportunities for personalized therapies. In conclusion, CNHPP study identifies the proteomic landscape in early HCC, and the patterns of protein signatures and pathways that are altered in proteomic subtypes of HCC. The drug-targetable proteins that identified by proteomic alterations may provide a powerful tool for identifying patients with HCC subtypes associated with a poor prognosis, and who might benefit from further targeted treatment, moving us towards the era of proteomics-driven precision medicine.
National Center for Protein Sciences (Beijing)
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