Clinical–Inflammatory Phenotypes and Circulating hsa_circ_101555 Along the Cirrhosis–Hepatocellular Carcinoma Continuum: A Cross-sectional Study

The clinical spectrum from cirrhosis to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) reflects interactions among hepatic dysfunction, systemic inflammation, and tumor burden. Whether circulating biomarkers add value beyond clinical parameters remains uncertain. This study aimed to evaluate an exploratory Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD)–neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)-based clinical–inflammatory phenotyping framework for discriminating advanced HCC features and to determine whether circulating hsa_circ_101555 provides incremental discriminatory value beyond this framework.