Patent ID: 8252538

Claim:
A method of determining whether a human subject has a poor survival prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), comprising: measuring the level of a miR gene product signature in a test sample of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue from the human subject, the miR gene product signature consisting of miR gene products: miR-30c, mir-124a, miR-207 and miR-219; and determining the survival prognosis of the subject; wherein an alteration in the level of the miR gene product in the test sample, relative to the level of a corresponding level of miR gene product in a control sample of metastasis-free liver tissue, is indicative of the human subject having a poor survival prognosis for HCC; the alteration being wherein at least one of the levels of miR-219 and mir-207 are above the levels of the control level, and/or wherein the at least one of the levels of miR-30cand miR-124a are below the levels of the control sample.