Ayşe Yüzbaşıoğlu, Meral Özgüç, Member of EuroBioBank - European Network of DNA, Cell and Tissue Banks for Rare Diseases
Keywords: Liver tumour, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Radioembolisation, Radiosensitivity, Patient stratification, Individual patient profiles, Biomarker panel, Multilevel diagnostics, Multi-omics, Predictive preventive personalized medicine
Liver cancer is the fifth most common form of cancer worldwide [1], with an incidence rate almost equals the mortality rate and ranks 3rd among causes of cancer related death [2]. The coexistence of two life threatening conditions, cancer and liver cirrhosis makes the staging challenging. However, there are some staging systems, e.g. the Barcelona staging system for Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [3], that suggest treatment options and management. Whereas diagnosis in early stages gives hope for a curative outcome, the treatment regime for around 80 % [2] of the patients classified as severe stages only gears towards palliation [4]. An intra-arterial radiation approach, radioembolisation (RE) is ubiquitously applied as one of palliative approaches. Although, in general RE shows promising results in intermediate and advanced stage HCC [5], individual treatment outcomes are currently unpredictable. Corresponding stratification criteria are still unclear.
