Abstract: bjective To investigate the values of suberylcarnitine (C8⁃DC) and hexadecanedioylcarnitine (C16⁃DC) in the diagnosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV)⁃related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver cirrhosis (LC). Methods The serum of 41 HCC patients (HCC group) and 18 LC patients (LC group) from Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital from May 2018 to May 2019 were collected, and 30 healthy volunteers during the same period were selected as the normal control group (NC group). The targeted analysis of C8⁃DC and C16⁃DC was performed by using the combined technology of ultra⁃high performance liquid chromatography and quadrupole time⁃of⁃flight mass spectrometry. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy. Results The levels of C8⁃DC in the LC group and HCC group were higher than those in the NC group (all P<0.001), and the levels of C16⁃DC in the LC group were higher than those in the NC group (P<0.001) and HCC group (P<0.05). The areas under the ROC curve (AUC) of C8⁃DC for diagnosing and discriminating LC and HCC were 0.889, 0.776 and 0.654, respectively; the AUC of C16⁃DC for diagnosing and discriminating LC and HCC were 0.878, 0.646 and 0.743, respectively; the AUC of combining C8⁃DC and C16⁃DC for diagnosing and discriminating LC and HCC were 0.898, 0.797 and 0.714, respectively. Conclusions C8⁃DC and C16⁃DC are closely related to HBV⁃related HCC and LC, and have certain value in diagnosing HBV⁃related HCC and LC.

Key words:  Hepatocellular carcinoma, Liver cirrhosis, Hepatitis B virus, Dicarboxyl?acylcarnitines, Targeted metabolomics, Diagnosis