The correlation between telomere length of the peripheral blood basophil and the risk and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract Introduction The role of peripheral blood basophil (PBB) and their telomere length (TL) in the pathogenesis and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients has not been fully studied. The correlation between PBB and TL is the risk of HCC. Methods 30 healthy participants and 80 HCC patients from our hospital were included in this study, and their clinical baseline data and clinical characteristics were statistically analyzed. TL and telomerase in PBB were analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and natural splines were used. Results Healthy participants 66.23 ± 11.20 years and 62.71 ± 13.27 HCC patients showed no significant difference in their gender, age, highest education level, and the distribution of PBB counts. There was a significant difference in their TL. A significant correlation between PBB count and recurrence in HCC patients was observed. Significant spline terms (PBB count: p < 0.01; BAS TL: p < 0.001) confirmed nonlinear associations, justifying avoiding dichotomy. Patients with higher PBB counts (>0.125⋅109) having a higher risk of recurrence (HR reaching 182.49 [5.00-6664.20], p<0.01). HCC patients with PBB-TL levels greater than 1.5 have a higher risk of recurrence (HR peaking at 66.62 [8.27-536.51], p<0.001). Sensitivity analysis adjusted spline degrees of freedom (df) to 2, 3, 4. AIC values varied minimally (PBB count: 87.2–89.3; BAS TL: 106.1–110.1), indicating model robustness to df changes. Conclusion The preliminary results of this study support the use of PBB counting and TL for predicting HCC recurrence, supporting reliable nonlinear modeling.