First multicenter study for risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma development in North Africa.

Aim: To assess the role of the major risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in the western part of North Africa.

Methods: A multicenter case control study was conducted in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria in collaboration with Pasteur Institutes in these countries. A total of 164 patients with HCC and 250 control subjects without hepatic diseases were included.

Genomic stability prevails in North-African hepatocellular carcinomas.

The molecular pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma, a tumour characterized by a vast clinical heterogeneity, remains unexplored outside Europe and Eastern Asia. We analysed by direct sequencing or loss of heterozygosity assay, the common targets of genomic alterations in 42 hepatocellular carcinomas collected in western North-Africa. Overall, genomic instability was uncommon, allelic losses affecting mostly chromosomes 1p, 4q, 8p and 17p (24-28% of cases).

[Advances in the diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal tumours: 5 cases].

Introduction: Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) are the most frequent mesenchymatous tumours of the digestive tract. Options for diagnosis and treatment have developed rapidly in recent years. The authors report five cases of GIST.