Liwan District, Guangdong Launches Community-Based Liver Cancer Early Screening Pilot, Exploring the "Liwan Model" for Non-Cirrhotic Populations

To advance the construction of a liver cancer early screening and early diagnosis system and implement the "Healthy China 2030" initiative, Liwan District, Guangzhou, launched a community-based liver cancer screening pilot project targeting residents with chronic liver disease starting in March 2026. The project is initiated by the China Liver Health Promotion Center, supported by Beijing Hotgen Biotech, led by the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (referred to as "Guangyi No. 3 Hospital"), and jointly implemented with the Guangzhou Liwan District Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and 20 community health service centers within the district.

On the afternoon of April 13, 2026, the project launch meeting was held in Liwan District. Leadership from Guangyi No. 3 Hospital and the China Liver Health Promotion Center, officials from the Liwan District CDC, experts in infectious diseases, interventional radiology, and hepatobiliary surgery, representatives of the 20 communities, and delegates of Hotgen Biotech attended the meeting, presenting and exchanging views on the project plan, implementation pathway, and details of community-level rollout.

■ Focus on Non-Cirrhotic Liver Disease Populations to Fill the Early Screening Gap

According to data released by the National Cancer Center, China sees approximately 466,000 new liver cancer cases and 422,000 deaths each year, accounting for more than 50% of the world's new cases and deaths from liver cancer. Because early-stage liver cancer is clinically silent, the early diagnosis rate in China has long remained below 30%, and the overall five-year survival rate is only 12.1% — far lower than in developed countries.

The pilot project in Liwan District will focus on chronic liver disease patients who have not yet progressed to cirrhosis, including chronic hepatitis B, chronic hepatitis C, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Studies have shown that patients with MASLD and other liver diseases face a clear risk of developing liver cancer even before progression to cirrhosis.

Guangyi No. 3 Hospital serves as the leading unit of the project, and the screening work is led by Professor Pan Qi'an (Paul Poon), Chief Scientist of Hepatology for Chinese Populations at Hotgen Biotech Group, and Professor Pan Xingfei, Principal Investigator. The project runs from March 2026 to June 2028, leveraging Hotgen Biotech Group's C-GALAD digitalized liver cancer risk screening model and the "Ganxin Weini" (Heartfelt Care for Your Liver) mini-program to achieve digitalized full-process management. It is expected to produce a scalable community-based liver cancer early screening management model, providing evidence-based support for a "Liwan Model" of national liver cancer prevention and control.

■ Building a Systematic Screening Collaboration Mechanism to Benefit Chronic Liver Disease Patients

At the event, Vice President Fan Yong of Guangyi No. 3 Hospital noted in his speech that the key to liver cancer early screening lies in "moving the checkpoint forward" (关口前移), and that communities are the first line of defense in chronic disease management. The project will directly benefit local residents of Liwan District, allowing high-risk individuals to receive systematic risk assessment right at their doorstep. Guangyi No. 3 Hospital will fully leverage its advantages as a tertiary hospital, working closely with community health service centers to build a collaboration mechanism of "community initial screening, hospital precision examination, and closed-loop management," truly achieving early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment of liver cancer, and providing a valuable reference for optimizing China's liver cancer prevention and treatment system. (Embedded photo in the original web page: Vice President Fan Yong of Guangyi No. 3 Hospital)

Pan Shuxian, Deputy Director of the Liwan District CDC, chaired the meeting, and Section Chief Yu Yi of the Liwan District CDC introduced the population scope covered by the project and its significance. She noted that Liwan District, as a central urban district of Guangzhou, has a dense population, a relatively high degree of aging, a well-established community medical network, and a considerable base of chronic liver disease patients, providing a solid foundation for community-based cohort research. The implementation of this project means that chronic liver disease patients treated at community health service centers will have the opportunity to receive more systematic and scientific early liver cancer risk assessment. Through the combination of blood tests and ultrasound screening, liver cancer may be detected while still in a treatable stage, significantly improving treatment success rates and long-term survival. 

(Embedded photos in the original web page: Deputy Director Pan Shuxian of Liwan District CDC; )

(Embedded photos in the original web page: Section Chief Yu Yi)

Shen Yingsheng, Deputy Director of the China Liver Health Promotion Center, emphasized that communities are the frontline of chronic liver disease management, and building a sustainable community-wide liver cancer early screening system is key to raising early diagnosis and early treatment rates. The pilot builds a closed-loop model of "community initial screening → tertiary hospital precision examination → community follow-up management," advancing the full-process implementation of "prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and management" and forming a replicable model of "government leadership, medical-enterprise collaboration, and digital empowerment," putting into practice the concepts of "medical-preventive integration and tiered diagnosis and treatment." 

(Embedded photo in the original web page: Deputy Director Shen Yingsheng of the China Liver Health Promotion Center)

Professor Pan Qi'an (Paul Poon), Chief Scientist of Hepatology for Chinese Populations at Hotgen Biotech Group, and Professor Pan Xingfei of the Infectious Diseases Department of Guangyi No. 3 Hospital, Principal Investigator, introduced that this is a prospective study planning to enroll 3,000 patients with chronic liver disease diagnosed at community health service centers (excluding those with confirmed cirrhosis, malignant tumors, or expected survival of less than 2 years). In November 2025, the three-marker liver cancer screening was recommended by the National Health Commission as a priority recommended item for liver cancer risk screening. The study will systematically evaluate the value of "the three liver cancer blood biomarkers (alpha-fetoprotein AFP, alpha-fetoprotein-L3 isoform AFP-L3%, and des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin DCP) combined with abdominal ultrasound" for early liver cancer screening in non-cirrhotic liver disease populations, and explore a risk-stratified screening pathway based on the C-GALAD score. 

(Embedded photos in the original web page: Professor Pan Qi'an; Professor Pan Xingfei)

(Embedded photos in the original web page: Professor Pan Xingfei)

Having been deeply engaged in the liver health field for many years, Hotgen Biotech's participation in the Liwan District community screening aims to combine advanced diagnostic technology with community health management, helping build a full-process prevention and treatment system of "screening – diagnosis – intervention" and advancing the checkpoint of liver cancer prevention and control.

Taking non-cirrhotic chronic liver disease populations as its entry point and relying on Liwan District's well-established community medical network and digitalized management tools, the Liwan liver cancer screening pilot explores a precision screening pathway based on risk stratification and a closed-loop management system integrating medical care and disease prevention. The pilot not only responds to the real pain points of China's liver cancer prevention and treatment — "low early diagnosis rates and insufficient community participation" — but also, through multi-stakeholder collaboration among government, hospitals, enterprises, and communities, provides a full-chain reference model for national liver cancer prevention and control, from policy design to on-the-ground implementation. As the project advances, the "Liwan Model" is expected to be replicated and promoted on a larger scale, contributing to the realization of the "Healthy China 2030" goals.