A Prospective Multicenter Clinical Study of the South China Collaborative Group Protocol for the Treatment of Hepatoblastoma in Children and Adolescents

Hepatoblastoma is the most common malignant liver tumor in infants and preschool children, comprising 65% of pediatric liver malignancies in those under 15, with its incidence on the rise in recent years [1]. Standard therapy combines surgical resection and chemotherapy: early-stage patients boast a survival rate over 90%, yet high-risk cases only reach around 40%, highlighting unmet treatment needs.

Notably, there is no universal definition for high-risk hepatoblastoma. The U.S. COG (AHEP0731) categorizes it as stage 4 disease, AFP <100ng/ml at diagnosis (any stage), or small cell undifferentiated histology; conversely, SIOP includes factors like major vascular invasion (inferior vena cava/portal vein), intra-abdominal extrahepatic spread, distant metastasis, AFP <100ng/ml, or tumor rupture, regardless of PRETEXT stage. To improve outcomes, international teams have tested intensified chemotherapy: Europe's SIOPEL reported that escalated cisplatin-doxorubicin regimens lifted high-risk patients' 3-year overall survival to over 80% [2], though with heightened toxicity. Similarly, Germany's IPA (ifosfamide-cisplatin-doxorubicin) and Japan's ITEC (ifosfamide-doxorubicin-carboplatin-VP-16) regimens delivered significant survival benefits but also amplified side effects [3,4].

Against this backdrop, the Guangdong Anti-Cancer Association's Pediatric Oncology Committee, led by Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and involving 15 hospitals, is launching a multicenter prospective trial to identify optimal chemotherapy regimens for Chinese hepatoblastoma children.

Parallelly, liquid biopsy has become an oncology research priority, offering four core advantages over tissue biopsy: non-invasiveness (peripheral blood sampling avoids tumor seeding), real-time genetic/progression monitoring (eliminating repeated invasive procedures), comprehensive molecular profiling (overcoming intratumoral heterogeneity), and high accuracy (capturing primary tumor-derived data). Given hepatoblastoma's propensity for early distant metastasis and 30-40% advanced-stage survival (with limited late-stage chemo efficacy), the Nano-5hmC-Seal cfDNA epigenetic profiling method holds promise as a novel biomarker for early diagnosis, treatment prediction, recurrence monitoring, and prognosis assessment in this disease.