A liquid biopsy assay for identifying early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma in asymptomatic HBsAg-seropositive individuals.

Biannual screening of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by ultrasonography and serum α-fetoprotein has been proposed to the HBsAg-seropositive individuals. The widespread application to all of them was restricted due to limited acceptability of resource and anxiety-producing procedures. We recently developed a novel liquid biopsy assay to identify HCC cases in asymptomatic HBsAg-positive individuals.