Search results for "Hepatocellular"

Non-invasive stratification of hepatocellular carcinoma risk in non-alcoholic fatty liver using polygenic risk scores

2021

Background & Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk stratification in individuals with dysmetabolism is a major unmet need. Genetic predisposition contributes to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to exploit robust polygenic risk scores (PRS) that can be evaluated in the clinic to gain insight into the causal relationship between NAFLD and HCC, and to improve HCC risk stratification. Methods: We examined at-risk individuals (NAFLD cohort, n = 2,566; 226 with HCC; and a replication cohort of 427 German patients with NAFLD) and the general population (UK Biobank [UKBB] cohort, n = 364,048; 202 with HCC). Variants in PNPLA3-TM6SF2-GCKR-MBOAT7 were combined in a hepatic …

Prognostic Role of Blood Eosinophil Count in Patients with Sorafenib-Treated Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

2020

Background: Inflammation is a long-established hallmark of liver fibrosis and carcinogenesis. Eosinophils are emerging as crucial components of the inflammatory process influencing cancer development. The role of blood eosinophils in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma receiving systemic treatment is an unexplored field. Objective: The objective of this study was to analyse the prognostic role of the baseline eosinophil count in patients with sorafenib-treated hepatocellular carcinoma. Patients and Methods: A training cohort of 92 patients with advanced- or intermediate-stage sorafenib-treated hepatocellular carcinoma and two validation cohorts of 65 and 180 patients were analysed. Overa…

Resminostat plus sorafenib as second-line therapy of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma - The SHELTER study

2016

Background & Aims No established therapies for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and progression on first-line sorafenib treatment currently exist. This phase I/II trial investigated safety, pharmacokinetics and potential biomarkers of the histone deacetylase inhibitor resminostat and a combination therapy with resminostat and sorafenib. Methods Patients with HCC and radiologically confirmed progression on sorafenib were treated in an exploratory, multi-center, open-label, uncontrolled, non-randomized, parallel group phase I/II study. In the combination group (n=38) four dose levels ranged from daily 200 to 600mg resminostat plus 400 to 800mg sorafenib. The monotherapy group (n=1…

Updated use of TACE for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment: How and when to use it based on clinical evidence.

2018

Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer, representing the sixth leading cause of cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Patient stratification and treatment allocation are based on tumor stage, liver function, and performance status. According to the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the first-line treatment for patients with intermediate stage HCC, including those with large or multinodular HCC, well-preserved liver function, and no cancer-related symptoms or evidence of vascular invasion or extrahepatic spread. Two TACE techniques have been used since 2004, convent…

SENP1 activity sustains cancer stem cell in hypoxic HCC

2017

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, with a minority of patients surviving at 5 years from diagnosis, despite treatment.1 HCC usually develops in conditions of chronic liver disease (CLD), mostly on the background of a cirrhotic liver, with liver transplantation at present being the only treatment strategy to cure both HCC and the specific CLD. All the other therapeutic strategies, because of the underlying liver cirrhosis, have to take into account, and may be limited in their feasibility, by the residual liver function of the individual patient, a critical parameter affecting the patient's prognos…

Contribution of the Cancer Stem Cell Phenotype to Hepatocellular Carcinoma Resistance

2017

The cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis is an increasingly accepted concept in cancer research that provides a plausible explanation for the considerable phenotypic and molecular heterogeneities observed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) which hampers therapeutic progress. The hypothesis infers that CSCs share functional properties similar to adult stem cells, such as self-renewal and differentiation capacity, and are exclusively responsible for tumor evolution. By definition, CSCs are held responsible not only for tumor initiation and progression but also acquisition of chemoresistance and the fueling of relapse after therapy. Therefore, the CSC model has significant implications both for tr…

Pivotal roles of glycogen synthase-3 in hepatocellular carcinoma

2017

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers in the world, and represents the second most frequently cancer and third most common cause of death from cancer worldwide. At advanced stage, HCC is a highly aggressive tumor with a poor prognosis and with very limited response to common therapies. Therefore, there is still the need for new effective and well-tolerated therapeutic strategies. Molecular-targeted therapies hold promise for HCC treatment. One promising molecular target is the multifunctional serine/threonine kinase glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3). The roles of GSK-3β in HCC remain controversial, several studies suggested a possible role of GSK-3β as a tumor …

Glypican-3 and Hep Par-1 are Useful Biomarkers in the Cytologic Assessment of Ascites.

2018

Till date, the utility of cytologic assessment of ascites for the identification of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells is still debated and the usefulness of immunocytochemistry for glypican-3 (GPC3) and Hep Par-1 in this setting has not been reported. Liquid-based cytology of ascitic fluid of 28 cirrhotic patients was performed and the spots obtained were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, papanicolau, and with GPC3 and Hep Par-1 antibodies. GPC3 and Hep Par-1 antibodies stained positively the atypical cells in the ascites of 2 patients with HCC showing an exophytic growth pattern. The specimens of the patients with nonexophytic HCC, other non-HCC cancers, or cirrhosis stained negativel…

Guidelines are silver, but a multidisciplinary team discussion may be golden?

2018

Chemoresistance and chemosensitization in cholangiocarcinoma

2017

One of the main difficulties in the management of patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is their poor response to available chemotherapy. This is the result of powerful mechanisms of chemoresistance (MOC) of quite diverse nature that usually act synergistically. The problem is often worsened by altered MOC gene expression in response to pharmacological treatment. Since CCA includes a heterogeneous group of cancers their genetic signature coding for MOC genes is also diverse; however, several shared traits have been defined. Some of these characteristics are shared with other types of liver cancer, namely hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatoblastoma. An important goal in modern onco…