Correlation of Serum Chemokine Ligand 14 with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Stage, Lymphocyte Profile, and Response to Transarterial Chemoembolization in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Purpose: To investigate the clinical relevance of serum chemokine ligand 14 (sCCL14) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the effect of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) on the expression level of sCCL14 and the immune microenvironment. Materials and Methods: In this prospective single-center observational study, 52 patients with HCC were recruited from January 2019 to December 2021, their clinical data and blood samples were collected, and the relationship between sCCL14 and progression-free survival (PFS) and TACE treatment response was analyzed.Results: Among the 52 patients with HCC (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer [BCLC] Stage A, 25.0%; BCLC Stage B, 44.2%; and BCLC Stage C, 30.8%), patients with BCLC Stage C HCC had significantly lower sCCL14 levels than those of patients with BCLC Stages A and B HCC (P = .001). sCCL14 levels were significantly higher in the first week after treatment than before TACE treatment (P = .024). Baseline sCCL14 levels in patients who showed complete response after TACE treatment were significantly higher than those in other groups, and lower baseline sCCL14 values were associated with shorter PFS times. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that sCCL14 level (hazard ratio, 1.855; 95% CI, 1.039-3.311; P = .037) was an independent prognostic factor of PFS. sCCL14 levels negatively correlated with the proportion of B lymphocytes and regulatory T cells in circulating blood and positively correlated with the absolute T-lymphocyte count.Conclusions: sCCL14 may be a predictive biomarker of TACE effectiveness. Further studies are needed to validate and outline the role of combination immunotherapy.