Page 29 - Read Online

Bourinbaiar et al. Hepatoma Res 2020;6:2 I http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-5079.2019.25 Page 7 of 8

DECLARATIONS
Acknowledgments
No professional writing services were used in writing up the manuscript. Authors acknowledge all patients
who volunteered to participate in this study. Supporting medical staff and laboratory personnel are
thanked for their help and support to make study happen.

Authors’ contributions
Made substantial contributions to conception and design of the study and performed data analysis and
interpretation: Bourinbaiar AS, Chinburen J, Batchuluun P, Munkhzaya C, Oyungerel D, Dandii D,
Tsogkhuu H, Kutsyna GA, Tarakanovskaya MG, Bain AI, Jirathitikal V
Performed data acquisition, as well as provided administrative, technical, and material support: Reid AA,
Borisova V

Availability of data and materials
The data will be shared upon completion and publication of this study in full.

Financial support and sponsorship
This study would never have had a chance to succeed if we did not receive the financial contribution
from our former patient with terminal HCC, Dr. Steve Kramer - now in complete remission since 2014
- and his spouse Jane Kramer, who as our genuine friends generously supported our effort over many
years. Additional support was provided by several other patients who contributed extra in addition to
regular payment for Hepko-V5. They were not involved in clinical study design, collection, analysis and
interpretation of data.

Conflicts of interest
All authors, except officers of Immunitor company, i.e., Bourinbaiar AS, Bain AI, Jirathitikal V, Borisova V,
Reid AA, declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Immunitor LLC (#IRB00010671) and
conducted in accordance with the declaration of Helsinki in conformity with good clinical practice as
defined by the International Conference on Harmonization. Further information about this study is
available at the ClinicalTrials.gov website under ID: NCT02232490.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.

Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020.

REFERENCES
1. Petrick JL, Florio AA, Znaor A, Ruggieri D, Laversanne M, et al. International trends in hepatocellular carcinoma incidence, 1978-
2012. Int J Cancer 2019; Epub ahead of print doi: 10.1002/ijc.32723.
2. Rawla P, Sunkara T, Muralidharan P, Raj JP. Update in global trends and aetiology of hepatocellular carcinoma. Contemp Oncol
(Pozn) 2018;22:141-50.
3. Ringelhan M, Pfister D, O’Connor T, Polansky E, Heikenwalder M. The immunology of hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat Immunol
2018;19:222-32.
4. Pinter M, Peck-Radosavljevic M. Review article: systemic treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Aliment Pharmacol Ther
2018;48:598-609.
5. Llovet JM, Montal R, Sia D, Finn RS. Molecular therapies and precision medicine for hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat Rev Clin Oncol
2018;15:599-616.