Liver Disease and Cancer Biomarkers

Matched peripheral blood and tumor-free liver samples were obtained from patients at the Asklepios Hospital Barmbek (AKB) undergoing extended liver resection due to liver metastases following colorectal cancer, liver adenoma, cholangiocellular carcinoma or hemangioma (n=17), and at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) from patients undergoing liver transplantation (n=17) due to end-stage liver disease. Human control peripheral blood samples were obtained from 13 healthy individuals. Furthermore, residual amounts of anonymized peripheral blood samples (buffy coats) from 12 randomly-selected healthy blood donors recruited at the Institute for Transfusion Medicine at the UKE were used. All blood donors gave their general written consent to use their blood samples for scientific studies. The anonymized use of buffy coats complied with a vote by the ethics committee of the German Medical Association. Study protocols (PV4898, PV4081, and PV4780) were approved by the ethics committee of the medical association of Hamburg, and all study participants provided written informed consent. The demographics and clinical characteristics of study participants are summarized in Tables 1, 2.