Abstract:

Hepatocellular carcinoma（HCC） is a common primary malignant tumor of the digestive system with a high mortality. Due to its insidious onset，early diagnosis is very challenging，and most of the patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage，resulting in a poor prognosis. Traditional serum biomarkers have limitations in sensitivity and specificity for HCC diagnosis. Exosomes，as important communication mediators within the tumor microenvironment，have gradually been utilized for the auxiliary diagnosis of HCC. MicroRNA（miRNA） within exosomes is related to the occurrence and progression of HCC. This review focuses on the application value of exosomal miRNA in the development and progression of HCC，including diagnostic efficacy，therapeutic evaluation and the role in differentiating HCC from liver cirrhosis（LC）. It also discusses the value of combined determination of different miRNA in exosomes for disease stratification and prognosis assessment in HCC. Additionally，the methods for exosome extraction and miRNA determination are described to highlight the advantages and potential of miRNA as biomarkers for HCC，and future research directions are outlined.

Key words: MicroRNA, Exosome, Hepatocellular carcinoma