Basic Study
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World J Gastrointest Oncol. Oct 15, 2022; 14(10): 1933-1948
Published online Oct 15, 2022. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v14.i10.1933
VCAN, expressed highly in hepatitis B virus-induced hepatocellular carcinoma, is a potential biomarker for immune checkpoint inhibitors
Mu-Qi Wang, Ya-Ping Li, Meng Xu, Yan Tian, Yuan Wu, Xin Zhang, Juan-Juan Shi, Shuang-Suo Dang, Xiao-Li Jia
Mu-Qi Wang, Ya-Ping Li, Yan Tian, Xin Zhang, Juan-Juan Shi, Shuang-Suo Dang, Xiao-Li Jia, Department of Infectious Diseases, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Meng Xu, Department of General Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Yuan Wu, Department of Critical Care Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Jia XL and Dang SS designed the study; Zhang X, Wu Y, Li YP, and Jia XL collected all samples in the study; Wang MQ, Wu Y, and Tian Y collected the data; Wang MQ and Xu M performed the statistical analysis; Wang MQ, Li YP, and Jia XL drafted the manuscript; Xu M, Jia XL, and Li YP made critical revisions to the manuscript; Jia XL, Xu M and Shi JJ provided financial support; and all authors read and approved the manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 31500650 and 81902449; the Key Research & Development Program-Social Development of Shaanxi Province, No. 2020SF-063; and Shaanxi Key Research and Development Plans, No. 2021SF-227.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Medical Ethics Committees of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (Approval No. 2019-1093).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Li Jia, Doctor, Chief Doctor, Department of Infectious Diseases, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 157 Xiwu Road, Xincheng District, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China. drjxl.123@xjtu.edu.cn
Received: May 21, 2022
Peer-review started: May 21, 2022
First decision: July 13, 2022
Revised: July 23, 2022
Accepted: September 12, 2022
Article in press: September 12, 2022
Published online: October 15, 2022
Processing time: 145 Days and 20 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: VCAN expression is significantly higher in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor tissue than in adjacent tissue, and high VCAN level may be a possible biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of HCC. VCAN is associated with hepatitis B e antigen in hepatitis B virus infected patients. VCAN may play a role in HCC through the extracellular matrix signaling pathway and inflammatory immune response, and is a potential biomarker for immune checkpoint (programmed cell death protein 1/cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4) inhibitors.