Search results for "hepatocellular carcinoma."

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…

Impact of COVID-19 on global HCV elimination efforts.

2021

Background & Aims COVID-19 has placed significant strain on national healthcare systems at a critical moment in the context of hepatitis elimination. Mathematical models can be used to evaluate the possible impact of programmatic delays on hepatitis disease burden. The objective of this analysis was to evaluate the incremental change in hepatitis C liver-related deaths and liver cancer, following a 3-month, 6-month, or 1-year hiatus in hepatitis elimination program progress. Methods Previously developed models were adapted for 110 countries to include a status quo or “no delay” scenario and a “1-year delay” scenario assuming significant disruption in interventions (screening, diagnosis and …

GSK-3 in liver diseases: Friend or foe?

2020

Liver diseases, including hepatitis due to hepatitis B or C virus infection, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma pose major challenges for overall health due to limited curative treatment options. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of these diseases. A better understanding of the signaling pathways involved in the pathogenesis of liver diseases can help to improve the efficacy of emerging therapies, mainly based on pharmacological approaches, which influence one or more specific molecules involved in key signal transduction pathways. These emerging therapies are very promising for the prevention and treatment of …

A phase 2 study of galunisertib (TGF-Β R1 inhibitor) and sorafenib in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

2017

4097 Background: TGFβ signaling is associated with HCC progression. Inhibition of TGFβ R1 potentiates activity of sorafenib in in-vitro and in-vivo models. Here we report the clinical activity of galunisertib (G) plus sorafenib (S) in pts with incurable HCC and no prior systemic therapy. Methods: Eligibility criteria included incurable HCC with measurable disease per RECIST 1.1, no prior systemic therapy, Child Pugh A, ECOG PS ≤1.G was administered as 80 mg PO BID (lead-in Cohort 1) or 150 mg PO BID (lead-in Cohort 2 and expansion cohort), as intermittent dosing of 14 days on/off (28 days = 1 cycle). S was administered continuously as a 400 mg PO BID. Primary objective was to characterize …

Fasting inhibits hepatic stellate cells activation and potentiates anti-cancer activity of Sorafenib in hepatocellular cancer cells

2017

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a poor outcome. Most HCCs develop in the context of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis caused by chronic inflammation. Short-term fasting approaches enhance the activity of chemotherapy in preclinical cancer models, other than HCC. Multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor Sorafenib is the mainstay of treatment in HCC. However, its benefit is frequently short-lived. Whether fasting can alleviate liver fibrosis and whether combining fasting with Sorafenib is beneficial remains unknown. METHODS: 24 hour fasting (2% serum, 0.1% glucose)-induced changes on human hepatic stellate cells (HSC) LX-2 proliferation/viability/cell cycle were assessed by MTT and flow cyto…

Vaccinia-based oncolytic immunotherapy Pexastimogene Devacirepvec in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma after sorafenib failure: a rando…

2019

PMC6682346; Pexastimogene devacirepvec (Pexa-Vec) is a vaccinia virus-based oncolytic immunotherapy designed to preferentially replicate in and destroy tumor cells while stimulating anti-tumor immunity by expressing GM-CSF. An earlier randomized Phase IIa trial in predominantly sorafenib-naive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) demonstrated an overall survival (OS) benefit. This randomized, open-label Phase IIb trial investigated whether Pexa-Vec plus Best Supportive Care (BSC) improved OS over BSC alone in HCC patients who failed sorafenib therapy (TRAVERSE). 129 patients were randomly assigned 2:1 to Pexa-Vec plus BSC vs. BSC alone. Pexa-Vec was given as a single intravenous (IV) infusion fol…

The role of molecular enrichment on future therapies in hepatocellular carcinoma

2017

Summary Hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) are characterised by considerable phenotypic and molecular heterogeneity. Treating HCC and designing clinical trials are particularly challenging because co-existing liver disease, present in most patients, limits aggressive therapeutic options. Positive results in recent phase III clinical trials have confirmed the high value of anti-angiogenic therapies for HCC in both first (sorafenib and lenvatinib) and second line (regorafenib and cabozantinib) treatment modalities. However, failure of several large randomised controlled clinical trials over the last 10 years underlines the necessity for innovative treatment strategies and implementation of tran…

Trial Design and Endpoints in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: AASLD Consensus Conference

2020

Proper trial design is critical for the success of clinical investigations. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a complex disease that has several unique properties. In 2008, after the approval of sorafenib, a panel of experts proposed guidelines for trial design and endpoints in HCC that have been instrumental during the last decade and provided a framework to allow an homogeneous analysis of reported investigations. Since then, several phase III studies have been reported and novel challenges have emerged. A panel of experts conveyed by AASLD organized a Special Topic Conference on trial design and endpoints to address those emerging challenges. This review summarizes the analysis and concl…

Ultrasound for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Surveillance: Still Looking for the Fortune Teller.

2018

Deconvolution of the cellular origin in hepatocellular carcinoma: Hepatocytes take the center stage.

2016

The expression of biliary/progenitor markers by hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is often associated with poor prognosis and stem cell-like behaviors of tumor cells. Hepatocellular adenomas (HCA) also often express biliary/progenitor markers and frequently act as precursor lesions for HCC. However, the cell of origin of HCA and HCC that expresses these markers still remains unclear. Therefore, to evaluate if mature hepatocytes give rise to HCA and HCC tumors, and to understand the molecular pathways involved in tumorigenesis, we lineage-labeled hepatocytes by injecting adeno-associated virus (AAV) containing thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG) promoter driven-Cre into RosaYFP mice. Yellow fluore…