Objective  To explore effects of serum Toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) expression levels on prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after radical resection.

  Methods  A total of 78 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were selected as research subjects, and all received hepatocellular carcinoma resection and were followed up for 1 year. The patients were divided into poor prognosis group and good prognosis group according to the prognosis of patients at 1 year of follow-up (according to the conditions of patients surviving with or without tumors). The baseline data questionnaire of patients was recorded and compared. Serum TLR4 and HGF levels of patients were detected before surgery, and the effects of serum TLR4 and HGF levels on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatocellular carcinoma resection were analyzed.

  Results  At one year of follow-up after liver radical resection, 16 patients had poor prognosis, accounting for 20.51% (16/78); the serum levels of Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), α-L-fucosidase (AFU), TLR4 and HGF of patients in the poor prognosis group were higher than those in the good prognosis group (P < 0.05); there were no significant differences in baseline data and other laboratory indicators between the two groups (P > 0.05); Logistic regression analysis results showed that high preoperative serum levels of AFP, AFU, TLR4 and HGF were risk factors for poor prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after liver radical resection (OR > 1, P < 0.05); the receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the AUC of preoperative serum levels of TLR4 and HGF alone and their combination in predicting the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after liver radical resection were all over 0.70, which had certain predictive value; when the cut-off values of each index were 13.629 ng/mL and 0.608 ng/mL respectively, the best predictive value could be obtained.

  Conclusion  The prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after liver radical resection may be affected by the preoperative serum levels of TLR4 and HGF.