Hepatic OncologyPub Date : 2019-02-12eCollection Date: 2019-03-01DOI: 10.2217/hep-2019-0002
Thomas Tu
{"title":"Journal Watch: Dr Tu looks back at the most important research articles released in 2018 relating to models and biomarkers of hepatocellular carcinoma.","authors":"Thomas Tu","doi":"10.2217/hep-2019-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2217/hep-2019-0002","url":null,"abstract":"Wang G, Chow RD, Ye L et al. Mapping a functional cancer genome atlas of tumor suppressors in mouse liver using AAV-CRISPR-mediated direct in vivo screening. Sci. Adv. 4(2), eaao5508 (2018). Multiple putative hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) driver mutations have been identified using next-generation sequencing, but the majority have not been confirmed in in vivo settings or in combination with each other. Wang et al. describe a high-throughput solution by transducing transgenic mice containing a Cre-dependent Cas9 with hepatocyte-specific adeno-associated virus vectors that encode for Cre recombinase, EGFP and a sgRNA from a library, targeting HCC candidate genes (49 genes drawn from online databases). Indels at target loci were then confirmed and quantified using multiplexed molecular inversion probe sequencing. Within 3 months of transduction, mice developed multifocal GFP-positive HCC, in which significant enrichment of Trp53, Setd2, Cic and Pik3R1 mutations were observed. Several pairs of mutations were significantly enriched, including Cdkn2a and Pten, B2m and Kansl1, and Arid2 and Cdkn2a. This exciting novel HCC model has the potential to confirm thousands of gene candidates identified by sequencing projects.","PeriodicalId":44854,"journal":{"name":"Hepatic Oncology","volume":"6 1","pages":"IJE10"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2217/hep-2019-0002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37061083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hepatocellular carcinoma treatment: hurdles, advances and prospects.","authors":"Ratna Kumari, Manoj Kumar Sahu, Anindita Tripathy, Kanishka Uthansingh, Manas Behera","doi":"10.2217/hep-2018-0002","DOIUrl":"10.2217/hep-2018-0002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the major causes of cancer-related mortality and is particularly refractory to the available chemotherapeutic drugs. Among various etiologies of HCC, viral etiology is the most common, and, along with alcoholic liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, accounts for almost 90% of all HCC cases. HCC is a heterogeneous tumor associated with multiple signaling pathway alterations and its complex patho-physiology has made the treatment decision challenging. The potential curative treatment options are effective only in small group of patients, while palliative treatments are associated with improved survival and quality of life for intermediate/advanced stage HCC patients. This review article focuses on the currently available treatment strategies and hurdles encountered for HCC therapy. The curative treatment options discussed are surgical resection, liver transplantation, and local ablative therapies which are effective for early stage HCC patients. The palliative treatment options discussed are embolizing therapies, systemic therapies, and molecular targeted therapies. Besides, the review also focuses on hurdles to be conquered for successful treatment of HCC and specifies the future prospects for HCC treatment. It also discusses the multi-modal approach for HCC management which maximizes the chances of better clinical outcome after treatment and identifies that selection of a particular treatment regimen based on patients' disease stage, patients' ages, and other underlying factors will certainly lead to a better prognosis.</p>","PeriodicalId":44854,"journal":{"name":"Hepatic Oncology","volume":"5 2","pages":"HEP08"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2018-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/0e/98/hep-05-08.PMC6613045.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37415966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hepatic OncologyPub Date : 2018-09-28eCollection Date: 2018-04-01DOI: 10.2217/hep-2018-0001
Nikolaos Galanakis, Elias Kehagias, Nikolas Matthaiou, Dimitrios Samonakis, Dimitrios Tsetis
{"title":"Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization combined with radiofrequency or microwave ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma: a review.","authors":"Nikolaos Galanakis, Elias Kehagias, Nikolas Matthaiou, Dimitrios Samonakis, Dimitrios Tsetis","doi":"10.2217/hep-2018-0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2217/hep-2018-0001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common type of malignancy. Several therapies are available for HCC and are determined by stage of presentation, patient clinical status and liver function. Local-regional treatment options, including transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, radiofrequency ablation or microwave ablation, are safe and effective for HCC but are accompanied by limitations. The synergistic effects of combined transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and radiofrequency ablation/microwave ablation may overcome these limitations and improve the therapeutic outcome. The purpose of this article is to review the current literature on these combined therapies and examine their efficacy, safety and influence on the overall and recurrence-free survival in patients with HCC.</p>","PeriodicalId":44854,"journal":{"name":"Hepatic Oncology","volume":"5 2","pages":"HEP07"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2217/hep-2018-0001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37412089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hepatic OncologyPub Date : 2018-09-28eCollection Date: 2018-04-01DOI: 10.2217/hep-2017-0025
Leyre Zubiri, José I Bilbao, Javier Rodríguez, Bruno Sangro
{"title":"Selective internal radiation therapy: an effective treatment for hormonal syndromes in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.","authors":"Leyre Zubiri, José I Bilbao, Javier Rodríguez, Bruno Sangro","doi":"10.2217/hep-2017-0025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2217/hep-2017-0025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The hormone secretion in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNET) causes an important interference in patients' quality of life. We present two cases of pNET metastatic to the liver (a pancreatic endocrine carcinoma with a severe hormonal syndrome and an insulinoma with severe crisis of hypoglycemia and coma) refractory to conventional treatments, which were finally solved with selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT), a nonstandard level 1 therapy. We show two examples of an excellent control of symptoms together with a long survival after treatment with SIRT. The evidence supporting the use of this therapy is level 2. Our case reports strongly support the use of SIRT for the severe clinical syndrome in pNET metastatic to the liver and refractory to somatostatin analogs.</p>","PeriodicalId":44854,"journal":{"name":"Hepatic Oncology","volume":"5 2","pages":"HEP09"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2217/hep-2017-0025","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37415967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hepatic OncologyPub Date : 2018-09-11eCollection Date: 2018-01-01DOI: 10.2217/hep-2018-0005
Shijia Zhu, Yujin Hoshida
{"title":"Molecular heterogeneity in hepatocellular carcinoma.","authors":"Shijia Zhu, Yujin Hoshida","doi":"10.2217/hep-2018-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2217/hep-2018-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Recent successful clinical trials have led to or likely lead to the regulatory approval of several molecular targeted agents for firstand second-line treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), including multikinase inhibitors, lenvatinib, regorafenib and cabozantinib, as well as immune checkpoint inhibitors nivolumab and pembrolizumab [1–5]. However, objective response rates to these agents are only 20% at maximum and patient survival benefit is no more than a few months despite the high cost of the drugs. A recent simulation-based analysis has reported that regorafenib treatment for advanced-stage HCC patients is not cost-effective with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $224,396 per quality-adjusted life year gained, which far exceeds the widely accepted incremental cost-effectiveness ratio cutoff of $50,000 [6]. Given that only small proportion of the patients respond to each therapy, it is critical to identify potential responders to avoid prescribing the drugs to patients who will not benefit from the treatment and enable cost-effective patient management [7]. However, no biomarker of drug response is available for any of the approved drugs for HCC to date.","PeriodicalId":44854,"journal":{"name":"Hepatic Oncology","volume":"5 1","pages":"HEP10"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2217/hep-2018-0005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36558506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hepatic OncologyPub Date : 2018-07-25eCollection Date: 2018-01-01DOI: 10.2217/hep-2018-0003
Gabriela Kuftinec, Thomas Loehfelm, Michael Corwin, Blythe Durbin-Johnson, MarieChristi Candido, Rebecca Hluhanich, Souvik Sarkar
{"title":"<i>De novo</i> hepatocellular carcinoma occurrence in hepatitis C cirrhotics treated with direct-acting antiviral agents.","authors":"Gabriela Kuftinec, Thomas Loehfelm, Michael Corwin, Blythe Durbin-Johnson, MarieChristi Candido, Rebecca Hluhanich, Souvik Sarkar","doi":"10.2217/hep-2018-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2217/hep-2018-0003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aim: </strong>Recent studies raise concerns for higher incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after direct-acting antiviral therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this study, using analysis of liver imaging pre- and post-DAA treatment, we queried new occurrence or '<i>de novo</i>' of HCC in patients with HCV-cirrhosis treated with DAAs. Of 150 patients who met study criteria, 7 (4.7%; 95% CI: 2.1-9.5%) patients developed <i>de novo</i> HCC which did not differ from historical rates of 3% (p = 0.22).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Notably, patients with decompensated cirrhosis had significantly higher rate of <i>de novo</i> HCC (9.3%; 95% CI: 3.12-22.2%; p = 0.04).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our data support the need for continued surveillance for HCC in HCV cirrhotics even after successful therapy.</p>","PeriodicalId":44854,"journal":{"name":"Hepatic Oncology","volume":"5 1","pages":"HEP06"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2217/hep-2018-0003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36558505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hepatic OncologyPub Date : 2018-05-10eCollection Date: 2018-01-01DOI: 10.2217/hep-2017-0024
Massimo Colombo, Ana Lleo
{"title":"The impact of antiviral therapy on hepatocellular carcinoma epidemiology.","authors":"Massimo Colombo, Ana Lleo","doi":"10.2217/hep-2017-0024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2217/hep-2017-0024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The development of nucleos(t)ide analogs and direct antiviral agents has revolutionized the management of chronic infection with HBV and HCV, respectively. These regimens allow to expand treatment to virtually all infected, including those with poor hepatic reserve and those with severe comorbidities. As a result, permanent suppression of HBV and eradication of HCV has been achieved in almost all treated patients, resulting in substantial clinical benefits. In several cohorts, these successes have translated into a reduction of the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma that was more frequently observed in patients with less advanced hepatitis, whereas liver cancer was more often associated with male gender, cirrhosis, alcohol abuse and diabetes.</p>","PeriodicalId":44854,"journal":{"name":"Hepatic Oncology","volume":"5 1","pages":"HEP03"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2217/hep-2017-0024","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36558597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hepatic OncologyPub Date : 2018-04-16eCollection Date: 2018-01-01DOI: 10.2217/hep-2017-0026
Celia Sequera, Sara Manzano, Carmen Guerrero, Almudena Porras
{"title":"How Rap and its GEFs control liver physiology and cancer development. C3G alterations in human hepatocarcinoma.","authors":"Celia Sequera, Sara Manzano, Carmen Guerrero, Almudena Porras","doi":"10.2217/hep-2017-0026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2217/hep-2017-0026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rap proteins regulate liver physiopathology. For example, Rap2B promotes hepatocarcinoma (HCC) growth, while Rap1 might play a dual role. The RapGEF, Epac1, activates Rap upon cAMP binding, regulating metabolism, survival, and liver regeneration. A liver specific Epac2 isoform lacking cAMP-binding domain also activates Rap1, promoting fibrosis in alcoholic liver disease. C3G (RapGEF1) is also present in the liver, but mainly as shorter isoforms. Its function in the liver remains unknown. Information from different public genetic databases revealed that C3G mRNA levels increase in HCC, although they decrease in metastatic stages. In addition, several mutations in RapGEF1 gene are present, associated with a reduced patient survival. Based on this, C3G might represent a new HCC diagnostic and prognostic marker, and a therapeutic target.</p>","PeriodicalId":44854,"journal":{"name":"Hepatic Oncology","volume":"5 1","pages":"HEP05"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2217/hep-2017-0026","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36558504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Molecular classification of hepatocellular adenomas: impact on clinical practice.","authors":"Anne-Laure Védie, Olivier Sutter, Marianne Ziol, Jean-Charles Nault","doi":"10.2217/hep-2017-0023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2217/hep-2017-0023","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hepatocellular adenomas are rare benign liver tumors usually developing in young women using oral contraception. The two main complications are hemorrhage (10-20%) and malignant transformation into hepatocellular carcinoma (<5%). A molecular classification has been recently updated in six major subgroups, linked to risk factors, histology, imaging and clinical features: adenomas inactivated for <i>HNF1A</i>, inflammatory adenomas, β-catenin-activated adenomas mutated in exon 3, β-catenin-activated adenomas mutated in exon 7-8, sonic hedgehog adenomas, and unclassified adenomas. Indeed, β-catenin-mutated adenomas in exon 3 are associated with malignant transformation, and sonic hedgehog adenomas with bleeding. This new nosology of hepatocellular adenomas will help to stratify patients according to risk of complications and will guide therapeutics in the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":44854,"journal":{"name":"Hepatic Oncology","volume":"5 1","pages":"HEP04"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.2217/hep-2017-0023","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36558503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}