High throughput sequencing reveals alterations in B cell receptor repertoires associated with the progression of hepatic cirrhosis to hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is developed as a consequence of chronic liver cirrhosis, and both diseases are difficult to diagnose and differentiate. Accurate noninvasive biomarkers for HCC and liver cirrhosis are urgently needed.

Methods: Here we used high-throughput sequencing to characterize the B cell receptor (BCR) repertoires from 36 HCC tumor samples and 10 liver cirrhosis (LC) tissue biopsies to understand the immune alterations during hepatic carcinogenesis.

Results: The principal components analysis (PCA) showed that the pattern of BCR in HCC was distinct from that in LC. As measured by Clonality and Shannon indexes, the diversity of BCR repertoire was significantly lower in HCC than in LC (P < 0.01).

Conclusion: Our results corroborated that the BCR diversity and composition could be closely correlated with hepatic carcinogenesis. And BCR repertoire may be used to predict the progression of HCC and design targeting immunotherapy in the near future.