Midkine as a new diagnostic tool in hepatocellular carcinoma

In the field of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), new biomarkers are needed in order to refine diagnosis of small tumors accessible to curative treatments. However, most of biomarkers (AFP, AFPL3, DCP, PIVKA-II, etc.) have failed to show any additional value for the diagnostic of early HCC. A recent study published in Clinical Cancer Research by Zhu WW et al. has identified serum midkine as an interesting diagnostic tool for HCC. Despite some limitations, this study has paved the way for a potential use of serum midkine in clinical care.