Given these uncertainties, longer follow-ups and results from additional trials are needed. Conclusions Although the commonly used criteria selleck chemical provide an excellent estimation of tumor behavior, they are limited by the prognostic heterogeneity of their high-risk tumor categories. The predictive nomogram is a beneficial scoring system but not a direct RFS predictor. We need more consideration for small GISTs, particularly those less than 3 cm in diameter, and small GISTs should be analyzed as a subset with potentially different biological behavior. List of abbreviations GIST: gastrointestinal stromal tumors; RFS: recurrence-free survival; ACOSOG: American College of Surgeons Oncology Group; NIH: National Institutes of Health; HPFs: high-power fields; AFIP: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology; C index: concordance index; PDGFRA: platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha.

Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions NT collected data, performed analysis, and drafted, revised and finalized the manuscript. KT conceived this study and participated in its design and coordination. TS, NT, and HO revised and approved the contents of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Authors’ information Department of Surgery, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University
Chronic viral hepatitis is a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [1]. Worldwide 120�C170 million persons are currently chronically Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infected [2].

Due to repetitive and continuous inflammation, these patients are at increased risk of developing cirrhosis, subsequent liver decompensation and/or hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the current standard of care; pegylated interferon and rivabirin combination therapy is unsatisfied in the patients with high titre of HCVRNA and genotype 1b. Activated human liver stellate cells (HSC) with chronic viral infection, can play a pivotal role in the progression of liver fibrosis [3]. Activated HSC produce a number of profibrotic cytokines and growth factors that perpetuate the fibrotic process through paracrine and autocrine effects. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small non-coding RNAs that control gene expression by degrading target mRNA or suppressing their translation [4].

There are currently 940 identifiable human miRNAs (The miRBase Entinostat Sequence Database – Release ver. 15.0). miRNAs can recognize hundreds of target genes with incomplete complementary; over one third of human genes appear to be conserved miRNA targets [5][6]. miRNA is associated several pathophysiologic events as well as fundamental cellular processes such as cell proliferation and differentiation. Aberrant expression of miRNA can be associated with the liver diseases [7][8][9][10]. Recently reported miRNAs can regulate the activation of HSCs and thereby regulate liver fibrosis.