Background: Although the role of cholesterol in tumourigenesis is unclear, it is used by the tumoural cells for biosynthetic processes and for steroid synthesis.
Aim: To accertain whether plasma cholesterol levels might be a reliable neoplastic marker of a developing hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with liver cirrhosis.
Patients: Plasma cholesterol has been studied in 287 liver cirrhosis patients without hepatocellular carcinoma and in 132 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
Results: Cholesterol (mean +/- SEM) was higher in hepatocellular carcinoma patients when compared with age-, sex- and Child-Pugh class matched cirrhotic controls. In Child-Pugh class A, B and C with uncomplicated liver cirrhosis these values were, respectively, 142.0 +/- 2.5, 117.3 +/- 2.5, 97.4 +/- 2.9 vs 172.5 +/- 4.7, 163.8 +/- 7.9, 153.5 +/- 8.0 +/- mg/dl in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (p < 0.001). A significant increase of cholesterol (p < 0.001) has been reported in the patients with liver cirrhosis when complicated by hepatocellular carcinoma and it was not related to cholestasis.
Conclusions: This observation seems to suggest that the enhanced cholesterol biosynthesis by tumoural cells leads to a rise in plasma cholesterol of patients with cancer, and, moreover, that, this increase may be used as a neoplastic marker indicating the development of a tumour in patients with liver cirrhosis.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|
BMC Gastroenterol
January 2025
Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.
Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a primary cause of chronic liver disease, with potential progression to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Although systemic inflammatory biomarkers are associated with liver diseases, their specific role in MASLD remains unclear. This study examines the association between systemic inflammatory biomarkers and MASLD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Chem Biol
January 2025
Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Pancreatic Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital, Institute of Translational Medicine, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
As an enzyme with a critical role in de novo purine synthesis, adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL) expression is upregulated in various malignancies. However, whether ADSL possesses noncanonical functions that contribute to cancer progression remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK) activated by lipid deprivation or ER stress phosphorylates ADSL at S140, leading to an enhanced association between ADSL and Beclin1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
January 2025
Department of Machine Learning, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, USA.
AI decision support systems can assist clinicians in planning adaptive treatment strategies that can dynamically react to individuals' cancer progression for effective personalized care. However, AI's imperfections can lead to suboptimal therapeutics if clinicians over or under rely on AI. To investigate such collaborative decision-making process, we conducted a Human-AI interaction study on response-adaptive radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInsights Imaging
January 2025
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
Objectives: To develop and validate radiomics and deep learning models based on contrast-enhanced MRI (CE-MRI) for differentiating dual-phenotype hepatocellular carcinoma (DPHCC) from HCC and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC).
Methods: Our study consisted of 381 patients from four centers with 138 HCCs, 122 DPHCCs, and 121 ICCs (244 for training and 62 for internal tests, centers 1 and 2; 75 for external tests, centers 3 and 4). Radiomics, deep transfer learning (DTL), and fusion models based on CE-MRI were established for differential diagnosis, respectively, and their diagnostic performances were compared using the confusion matrix and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC).
Sci Rep
January 2025
Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most prevalent form of liver cancer, and ranks among the most lethal malignancies globally, primarily due to its high rates of recurrence and metastasis. Despite the urgency, no reliable biomarkers currently exist for predicting tumor recurrence in HCC. Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutations (TERTpm) and cellular tumor antigen p53 mutations (TP53m) have been frequently documented in HCC, but their combined clinical significance remains undefined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!