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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Hepato Pancreatic Biliary Cancers
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1533865
This article is part of the Research Topic Liver Cancer Awareness Month 2024: Current Progress and Future Prospects on Advances in Primary Liver Cancer Investigation and Treatment View all 15 articles
Evaluation of PDZD11 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Prognostic Value and Diagnostic Potential in Combination with AFP
Provisionally accepted
Yiyun Ni 1*
Bin Liu 1 Weizhen Zhang 1
Yilin Pang 2* Yaling Tian 1 Qingsong Lv 1 Shengwen Shi 1 Yang Zheng 1 Huihui Fan 1- 1 Yongzhou Central Hospital, Yongzhou, China
- 2 School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Science, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most prevalent liver cancer, with a 5-year survival rate below 20% and an average survival time of 3-6 months. Identifying new biomarkers is crucial for early diagnosis and prognosis. The function of PDZ domain protein 11 (PDZD11) in HCC remains unclear.Methods In this study, PDZD11 was investigated as a potential biomarker for HCC using bioinformatic analysis of the TCGA and ICGC datasets. Furthermore, we assessed the potential of serum PDZD11 as a clinical diagnostic marker by enrolling a cohort comprising 78 HCC patients and 62 healthy controls (HC) using the ELISA analysis and combining its expression with common tumor markers.Our research found significantly higher PDZD11 mRNA expression in HCC tissues compared to tumor-adjacent tissues (p < 0.001), which was associated with lower overall survival (OS) rates (p < 0.01). Multivariate evaluation methods established PDZD11 as a standalone predictor of prognosis. A nomogram incorporating PDZD11 expression and clinicopathological factors predicted OS rates for HCC patients over various years. Patients with HCC exhibited notably elevated serum PDZD11 levels compared to healthy controls (HC), with these levels rising further in advanced disease stages and deteriorating performance status (PS). ROC analysis showed high diagnostic accuracy when PDZD11 is combined with AFP (AUC = 0.958).PDZD11 is more sensitive than AFP in assessing HCC prognosis. In conclusion, PDZD11 is a promising supplementary biomarker for HCC diagnosis and prognosis alongside AFP.
Keywords: Hepatocellular Carcinoma, PDZD11, AFP, Serological biomarker, prognosis
Received: 25 Nov 2024; Accepted: 06 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ni, Liu, Zhang, Pang, Tian, Lv, Shi, Zheng and Fan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yiyun Ni, Yongzhou Central Hospital, Yongzhou, China
Yilin Pang, School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Science, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325035, Zhejiang Province, China
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