Artificial intelligence-based personalized treatment strategies for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: integrating HSP90α for prognosis and survival prediction

This study aimed to integrate artificial intelligence (AI)with heat shock protein 90 alpha (HSP90α)expression to improve patient selection and prognostic assessment in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). We retrospectively enrolled 2555 unresectable HCC patients treated between 2016 and 2021 at seven Chinese tertiary hospitals. Residual-based methods were used to define TACE benefit. Eight AI models revealed that HSP90α expression, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC)stage, and tumor size were key predictive factors for TACE benefit. A nomogram based on these three variables achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC)of 0.901 in the validation cohort. For overall survival (OS), we developed 101 machine learning models. The StepCox[forward] plus random survival forest model showed the best performance. Its C-indices were 0.84, 0.70, and 0.78 in the training, internal validation, and external validation sets, respectively. In the internal validation set, the time-dependent AUCs for 1-, 2-, and 3 year OS were 0.835, 0.821, and 0.776; in the external validation set, they were 0.854, 0.790, and 0.804. Integrating AI with HSP90α enables robust identification of TACE-benefit candidates and accurate prognostic stratification in unresectable HCC.

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Publication Details

Journal
npj Digital Medicine
Published
2025-12-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-025-02281-y
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment and Prognosis
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.97
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article

Artificial intelligence-based personalized treatment strategies for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: integrating HSP90α for prognosis and survival prediction

Zunyuan Tan, P. Wang, Yuhang Zhou, Lianbin Wen et al.
3 citations
npj Digital Medicine
Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment and Prognosis
3.97
article

Artificial intelligence-based personalized treatment strategies for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: integrating HSP90α for prognosis and survival prediction

Zunyuan Tan, P. Wang, Yuhang Zhou, Lianbin Wen, X. Johné Liu, Susu Xiao, Han Li, Jianwen Zhang, Xiaosong Li, Jian Chen, Hao Chi, H. Luo, Guixu Zhang, Ke Su, Lexin Wang, Kun He, Zhenjiang Li, Xuelian Wang, Chenjie Wang, Ke Xu, Yunwei Han, Haiqing Chen
article en
3 citations

Abstract

This study aimed to integrate artificial intelligence (AI)with heat shock protein 90 alpha (HSP90α)expression to improve patient selection and prognostic assessment in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). We retrospectively enrolled 2555 unresectable HCC patients treated between 2016 and 2021 at seven Chinese tertiary hospitals. Residual-based methods were used to define TACE benefit. Eight AI models revealed that HSP90α expression, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC)stage, and tumor size were key predictive factors for TACE benefit. A nomogram based on these three variables achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC)of 0.901 in the validation cohort. For overall survival (OS), we developed 101 machine learning models. The StepCox[forward] plus random survival forest model showed the best performance. Its C-indices were 0.84, 0.70, and 0.78 in the training, internal validation, and external validation sets, respectively. In the internal validation set, the time-dependent AUCs for 1-, 2-, and 3 year OS were 0.835, 0.821, and 0.776; in the external validation set, they were 0.854, 0.790, and 0.804. Integrating AI with HSP90α enables robust identification of TACE-benefit candidates and accurate prognostic stratification in unresectable HCC.

npj Digital MedicineVol. 9(1)
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US), Harbin Medical University (CN), Chongqing University (CN), Dalian Medical University (CN), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CN), Sichuan University (CN), Southwest Medical University (CN), Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University (CN), West China Hospital of Sichuan University (CN), Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (CN), Shandong Tumor Hospital (CN), Third Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University (CN), Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital (CN), Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology (CN), The Affiliated Yongchuan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (CN), Southwest Hospital (CN), Cixian People's Hospital (CN), First People's Hospital of Chongqing (CN), Shandong First Medical University (CN), Chongqing Medical University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment and Prognosis
3.97
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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