Abstract: Objective To explore the value of the relative expression level of micrornA-148A (miR-148a) mRNA in predicting the early postoperative recurrence of primary liver cancer. Methods The study included 115 patients with primary liver cancer from the Department of Oncology, Huai'an Hospital, Huai′an City, between March 2018 and June 2021. All patients underwent radical resection of liver cancer and were followed up for 12 months. Based on the prognosis, they were divided into a recurrent group (24 cases) and a non-recurrent group (91 cases). Gender, age, complications (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes), tumor status (location, number, diameter), liver function child classification, operation time, intraoperative bleeding, vascular invasion, tumor capsule completeness, and serological indicators were compared between the two groups. The relative expression of miR-148a mRNA in liver cancer tissue was detected by qRT-PCR after operation. Results In both the recurrence group and the non-recurrence group, there were 10 (41.67%) and 16 (17.58%) cases of multiple tumors, 17 (70.83%) and 36 (39.56%) cases of vascular invasion, 16 (66.67%) and 39 (42.86%) cases of incomplete tumor envelope, respectively. The relative expression level of miR-148a mRNA in the two groups was (0.23±0.05) and (0.52±0.11), respectively. Comparing with the non-recurrence group, the recurrence group had a higher proportion of patients with multiple tumors, vascular invasion and incomplete tumor envelop, as well as a lower relative expression level of miR-148a mRNA (P<0.05). According to ROC analysis, the optimal cutoff value for the relative expression level of miR-148a mRNA in predicting the recurrence of liver cancer after radical resection in patients with liver cancer was 0.329. The area under the curve was 0.821 (95% CI: 0.732-0.910), with a sensitivity of 0.742 and specificity of 0.707 (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that tumor number, vascular invasion, tumor envelope and miR-148a mRNA were risk factors for recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after radical resection (P<0.05). Conclusion There are several risk factors for recurrence of liver cancer after radical resection, including the number of tumors, vascular invasion, tumor envelope, and reduced relative expression of miR-148a mRNA in liver cancer tissue. The relative expression of miR-148a mRNA can be used as a predictor of recurrence of liver cancer after radical resection.

Key words: Primary liver cancer, Radical resection of liver cancer, Recurrence, Micro RNA-148a, Risk factors