Monocyte-to-High-Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol Ratio Predicts Prognosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients with Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease

Abstract

Tongguo Miao,1 Xianzhe Lou,2 Shiming Dong,1 Xiaoxiao Zhang,1 Weiwei Guan,1 Ying Zhang,1 Lu Li,1 Xiwei Yuan,1 Dong Ma,2,* Yuemin Nan1,* 1Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology, Hebei Medical University Third Hospital & Hebei International Joint Research Center for Liver Cancer Molecular Diagnosis, Hebei International Science and Technology Cooperation Base, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, 050051, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Key Laboratory of Neural and Vascular Biology, Ministry of Education, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, 050017, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yuemin Nan, Department of Traditional and Western Medical Hepatology, Hebei Medical University Third Hospital & Hebei International Joint Research Center for Liver Cancer Molecular Diagnosis, Hebei International Science and Technology Cooperation Base, No. 139, Ziqiang Road, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, 050051, People’s Republic of China, Tel [phone], Email [email protected] Dong Ma, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Key Laboratory of Neural and Vascular Biology, Ministry of Education, Hebei Medical University, No. 361, Zhongshan East Road, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, 050017, People’s Republic of China, Tel [phone], Email [email protected]: The incidence of non-B and non-C hepatocellular carcinoma (NBNC-HCC) is increasing globally. Metabolically associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) has been a contributing factor to this rising trend in NBNC-HCC incidence. The monocyte-to-high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol ratio (MHR) is a new prognostic marker that connects systemic inflammation with disorders of lipid metabolism. Therefore, MHR may be a potential prognostic predictor of patients with MAFLD-related HCC (MAFLD-HCC). This study aims to investigate the relationship between the MHR and prognosis of patients with MAFLD-HCC and construct a novel prognostic prediction tool for MAFLD-HCC.Patients and Methods: This retrospective study of patients with MAFLD-HCC included training (n = 112) and internal validation (n = 37) cohorts. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was conducted to identify independent risk factors of survival. A visual nomogram was constructed to assess the performance of the two groups. Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and calibration curves were used to verify the prognostic discriminative ability of this nomogram, even in the MHR, ALBI grade, and MHR–ALBI model.Results: Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that extrahepatic metastases, Vascular invasion, Barcelona staging B, C, D, elevated ALBI Grade 3, C-reactive protein (CRP), and MHR were independent risk factors for the prognosis of MAFLD-HCC. Moreover, calibration plots showed good discrimination and consistency when the significant factors were entered into the nomogram. Meanwhile, the MHR strongly correlated with the prognosis of cancer under a background of MAFLD-HCC, with a sensitivity of 88.89% and a specificity of 79.61%. Importantly, the performance of the MHR alone (AUC = 86.2) was not only superior to the ALBI grade (AUC = 63.8) but was comparable to the combination of MHR and ALBI (AUC = 88.5).Conclusion: The novel nomogram demonstrated good value in predicting the overall survival of patients with MAFLD-HCC. The MHR may be a potential predictor of prognosis.Keywords: lipid metabolism, MAFLD-HCC, prognostic prediction, nomogram, MHR

Keywords

• lipid metabolism
• mafld-hcc
• prognostic prediction
• nomogram
• mhr.