LAUSR

Abstract An effective blood-based method for the diagnosis and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not yet been developed. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) carrying cancer-specific genetic and epigenetic aberrations may enable a noninvasive “liquid biopsy” for diagnosis and monitoring of cancer. Here, we identified an HCC-specific methylation markers by comparing HCC tissue and normal blood leukocytes and showed that methylation profiles of HCC tumor DNA and matched plasma ctDNA are highly correlated. Using cfDNA samples from a large cohort of 1098 HCC patients and 835 normal controls, we constructed a diagnostic prediction model that showed high diagnostic specificity and sensitivity (P Citation Format: Kang Zhang. Diagnosis and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma with ctDNA methylation markers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3324.