Endotrophin, a pro-peptide of Type VI collagen, is a biomarker of survival in cirrhotic patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

• Published in: Hepatic oncology 2021-06, Vol.8 (2), p.HEP32-HEP32
• Main Authors: Leeming, Diana Julie, Nielsen, Signe Holm, Vongsuvanh, Roslyn, Uchila, Pruthviraj, Nielsen, Mette Juul, Reese-Petersen, Alexander L, van der Poorten, David, Eslam, Mohammed, Schuppan, Detlef, Karsdal, Morten Asser, George, Jacob
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: biomarkers; collagen; endotrophin; extracellular matrix; hepatocellular carcinoma
• ISSN: 2045-0923; 2045-0931
• DOI: 10.2217/hep-2020-0030

Type VI collagen, is emerging as a signaling collagen originating from different types of fibroblasts. A specific fragment of Type VI collagen, the pro-peptide, is also known as the hormone endotrophin. We hypothesized that this fibroblast hormone would be of particular relevance in cancer types with a high amount of fibrosis activity, namely for outcome in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cirrhotic patients. Plasma C6M, PRO-C6 and alphafeto-protein (AFP) were assessed in 309 patients with mixed etiologies (hepatitis C, hepatitis B, alcohol and nonalcoholic fatty liver) diagnosed as cirrhotics, cirrhotics with HCC, noncirrhotics and healthy controls. Progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) data were collected up to 6120 days after diagnosis. The ability of each marker to predict survival was investigated. The level of endotrophin assessed by PRO-C6 was able to separate healthy controls, noncirrhotics and cirrhotics from HCC (p