Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is the leading cause of death,and patients with early HCC have a better prognosis than those with advanced HCC. Therefore,early screening of HCC is crucial for clinical treatment decisions and improving patient outcomes. The sensitivity of ultrasound,computed tomography and serum alpha-fetoprotein(AFP)detection methods is low,which hinder the early di-agnosis of HCC. DNA methylation is one of the hot topics in epigenetic modification research and plays a key role in various diseases,in-cluding cancer. DNA methylation usually occurs in the early stage of malignant tumors,and hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes or hypomethylation of oncogenes is an important cause of tumorigenesis. As a non-invasive assay,circulating free DNA(cfDNA)is an important biomarker for liquid biopsy and has become a hot spot in the early diagnosis of HCC. This article reviews the recent progress of circulating free DNA methylation in the diagnosis of liver cancer.
维普
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