Methods and kits for predicting the risk of having or developping hepatocellular carcinoma in patients suffering from cirrhosis

A method for determining whether a patient suffering from cirrhosis is at risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma and monitoring the patient identified as at risk, comprising

• contacting plasma obtained from a blood sample from the patient with at least one differential binding partner, wherein the at least one differential binding partner is directed against a specific surface marker on an endothelial-derived microvesicle and wherein binding of the at least one differential binding partner to a specific cell surface marker enables differentiation of the endothelial-derived microvesicle from a microvesicle derived from another cell selected from the group consisting of leukocyte, platelet and hepatocyte;
• measuring a level of the endothelial-derived microvesicles which bound to the at least one differential binding partner in the plasma, wherein
• the level of endothelial-derived microvesicles is determined to be higher than a predetermined reference value,
• monitoring the patient when the level of the measured endothelial-derived microvesicles is higher than the predetermined reference value and thus is indicative of being at risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma, wherein said monitoring is performed using an imaging procedure configured to detect hepatocellular carcinoma, and
• providing to the patient suffering from cirrhosis a treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma when detected by the imaging procedure, wherein said treatment is selected from the group consisting of resection of the patient's liver and transplantation of a liver into the patient.