Table 6.

Prognostic significance of serum PLT–ALB–BIL grade in HCC patients.

Biomarkers	Patients	Prognostic Significance	Year	References
Pre-treatment PLT–ALB–BIL grade a	785 HBV-infected patients with HCC treated with curative surgical resection.	High PLT–ALB–BIL grade predicted worse OS and RFS (grade 2/3 vs. 1).	2018	Luo et al. [111]
	2038 patients with HCC treated with curative surgical resection.	High PLT–ALB–BIL grade predicted worse OS (grade 2/3 vs. 1).	2019	Lu et al. [112]
	134 HBV-infected patients with HCC treated with curative surgical resection.	High PLT–ALB–BIL grade predicted worse OS and RFS (grade 2/3 vs. 1).	2019	Wu et al. [113]
	465 HBV-infected patients with HCC treated with curative surgical resection.	High PLT–ALB–BIL grade predicted worse OS and RFS (grade 2/3 vs. 1).	2020	Pang et al. [114]
	174 patients with HCC treated with HFRT.	High PLT–ALB–BIL grade predicted worse OS (grade 3 vs. 1).	2018	Ho et al. [115]
	49 patients with HCC treated with DEE-TACE.	High PLT–ALB–BIL grade predicted worse OS (grade 2 vs. 1).	2019	Carling et al. [116]
	6507 patients with HCC treated with curative surgical resection, RFA, TACE, or supportive care.	High PLT–ALB–BIL grade predicted worse OS (grade 2/3 vs. 1).	2019	Lee et al. [117]
	349 patients with HCC treated with TACE combined with PMWA.	High PLT–ALB–BIL grade predicted worse OS (grade 2/3 vs. 1).	2019	Ni et al. [118]
	418 patients with HCC treated with TACE combined with molecular targeted therapy with sorafenib.	High PLT–ALB–BIL grade predicted worse OS (grade 3 vs. 1).	2021	Hu et al. [119]
Post-treatment PLT–ALB–BIL grade change b	489 patients with HCC treated with curative surgical resection (342 as training cohort and 147 as validation cohort)	Non-increased PLT–ALB–BIL grade change predicted worse OS and RFS (≤0 vs. >0).	2021	Wang et al. [120]

^a PLT–ALB–BIL grade was calculated by the formula 2.02 × log₁₀ serum BIL level (μmol/L) − 0.37 × [log₁₀ serum BIL level (μmol/L)]² − 0.04 × serum ALB level (g/L) − 3.48 × log₁₀ serum PLT count (10⁹/L) + 1.01 × [log₁₀ serum PLT count (10⁹/L)]² and stratified as grade 1 (≤−2.53), grade 2 (>−2.53 to ≤−2.09), or grade 3 (>−2.09). ^b Post-treatment PLT–ALB–BIL grade change was calculated by subtracting pre-treatment PLT–ALB–BIL grade from post-treatment, 1st-month PLT–ALB–BIL grade. Abbreviations: PLT—platelet; ALB—albumin; BIL—bilirubin; HCC—hepatocellular carcinoma; HFRT—hypofractionated radiation therapy; OS—overall survival; HBV—hepatitis B virus; RFS—recurrence-free survival; DEE-TACE—drug-eluting embolic transarterial chemoembolization; RFA—radiofrequency ablation; TACE—transarterial chemoembolization; PMWA—percutaneous microwave ablation; vs.—versus.