Novel Drivers and Molecular Classes of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

摘要

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a frequent cancer worldwide and the major etiologies are hepatitis B and C virus infections, high alcohol intake, obesity with metabolic syndrome, and rare hereditary metabolic disease like hemochromatosis. Incidence of HCC reflects differences in risk-factor distribution per country, and overall more than half of the HCC cases are caused by hepatits B virus (HBV) infection, particularly in Africa and Asia. Overall, HCC is a highly resistant tumor to classical and targeted therapies. Only a small percentage of patients with HCC can benefit from curative treatment such as liver transplantation, radiofrequency ablation, and liver resection. Most often, patients receive best supportive care or palliative treatment, such as chemoembolization or sorafenib (a multikinase inhibitor).