Serum HMGB1 concentrations at 4 weeks is a useful predictor of extreme poor prognosis for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with sorafenib and hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy

Background Biomarkers predicting the response to the anticancer treatment and prognosis in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are required. Recently, high mobility groupbox 1 ( HMGB1) was reported to promote HCC progression and be associated with poor prognosis for patients with HCC. The purpose of this study was to assess serum HMGB1concentrations before and during sorafenibtreatment or hepatic arterial infusionchemotherapy (HAIC) and to explore the ability of serum HMGB1concentrations to predict prognosis.