Abstract 4935: Targeted proteomic analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma and its histologic mimickers
Authors: Cecchi Fabiola , Ku Nam , Wang Hanlin , Blackler Adele , Hembrough Todd , Rabizadeh Shahrooz , Soon-Shiong Patrick , Huang Jiaoti 
Published: July 2016

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer. Well differentiated HCC can sometimes be extremely difficult to be distinguished from other hepatocellular mass lesions such as hepatocellular adenoma and dysplastic liver nodule due to considerable morphologic overlaps. Immunohistochemical markers may have a limited utility, especially on core biopsy.

Choice of treatment depends on the extent and location of the cancer, and the overall health of the patient. For patients who are healthy enough to undergo surgery and who have early-stage cancer confined to the liver, treatment may involve hepatic resection; however many patients develop a cancer recurrence, which is the main cause of death in long-term evaluations. Recurrence rates after treatment with resection are high, highlighting the importance of finding effective adjuvant treatments and markers that aid in determining differences between hepatocellular lesions.

To explore differences between hepatocellular lesions that could be indicators of tumor behavior, we used targeted proteomic analysis to assess different protein biomarkers in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) HCC tumor tissue

Twenty-two FFPE HCC tissue blocks were obtained and a pathologist marked a minimum 8mm2 of tumor area. Following laser microdissection, proteins were extracted using the Liquid-Tissue® process and subjected to selected reaction monitoring mass spectrometry to quantify the amounts of 30 different targeted proteins.

As anticipated, well differentiated HCC, hepatocellular adenoma and dysplastic nodule expressed high rates of P-glycoprotein and the majority expressed multi-drug resistance gene protein (MDR1). Such markers may account in part for the chemotherapy refractory nature of HCC. All 22 patients expressed high levels of hENT1 and lacked expression of RRM1, indicating that gemcitabine-based therapy would be an appropriate choice. All 22 patients lacked expression of marker of sensitivity to anthracycline (TOPO2A) and the majority of patients did not express a marker of resistance to platinum therapy (ERCC1).

Of the 22 patients whose tumors expressed EGFR, 5 had expression above the 75%ile and would thus be eligible for EGFR small molecule inhibitor therapy. Dysplastic liver nodule patients did not expressed significant level of EGFR. Further, multiplex-targeted proteomics discovered patients expressing cMET and IDO1, which indicate eligibility for clinical trials of targeted therapies or immunotherapies. 60% of dysplastic liver nodule patients did not expressed cMET at any level

This study retrospectively evaluates HCC patients in an attempt to identify predictors of tumor behavior. Proteomic and genomic screening should be performed to identify differences between various hepatocellular lesions. Prospective evaluation of molecular and genetic profile is warranted in HCC patients to be distinguished from other hepatocellular mass lesions.

Citation Format: Fabiola Cecchi, Nam Ku, Hanlin Wang, Adele Blackler, Todd Hembrough, Shahrooz Rabizadeh, Patrick Soon-Shiong, Jiaoti Huang. Targeted proteomic analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma and its histologic mimickers. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4935.