Publication Name	World Journal of Gastroenterology
Manuscript ID	116363
Country	China

Category	Anthropology
Manuscript Type	Editorial
Article Title	Telomere and telomerase: Traditional tumor targets regain their applications for liver cancer diagnosis and prognosis
Manuscript Source	Invited Manuscript
All Author List	Xin-Ya Lu, Yi-Gang Wang and Hui Wang
Funding Agency and Grant Number	Funding Agency Grant Number Hangzhou Medical Health Science and Technology Project No. B20220173 Joint Fund of Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China No. LKLY25H160002
Corresponding Author	Hui Wang, MD, Department of Oncology, Zhejiang Xiaoshan Hospital, No. 728 Yucai North Road, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou 311200, Zhejiang Province, China. wanghui19840106@126.com
Key Words	Hepatocellular carcinoma, Telomeres; Telomerase; Biomarker; Liquid biopsy
Core Tip	This editorial emphasizes the pivotal role of telomere biology in hepatocellular carcinoma, spanning fundamental molecular mechanisms and their clinical implications. It outlines the diagnostic and prognostic value of non-invasive liquid biopsy approaches based on telomere length assessment and TERT mutation analysis. Further, the editorial discusses emerging therapeutic strategies, particularly telomerase-targeted immunotherapies, underscoring their potential to advance precision oncology in hepatocellular carcinoma and other malignancies.
Citation	Lu XY, Wang YG, Wang H. Telomere and telomerase: Traditional tumor targets regain their applications for liver cancer diagnosis and prognosis. World J Gastroenterol 2026; In press

Received	2025-11-10 05:13
Peer-Review Started	2025-11-10 05:13
First Decision by Editorial Office Director	2025-12-05 09:34
Return for Revision	2025-12-05 09:34
Revised	2025-12-18 08:24
Publication Fee Transferred
Second Decision by Editor	2026-01-21 02:35
Second Decision by Editor-in-Chief
Final Decision by Editorial Office Director	2026-01-21 08:47
Articles in Press	2026-01-21 08:47
Edit the Manuscript by Language Editor
Typeset the Manuscript

ISSN	1007-9327 (print) and 2219-2840 (online)
Open Access	This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Copyright	© The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
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