Open AccessHepatocellular carcinoma: Where there is unmet need
Author(s) -
Bupathi Manojkumar,
Kaseb Ahmed,
Meric-Bernstam Funda,
Naing Aung
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
molecular oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.332
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1878-0261
pISSN - 1574-7891
DOI - 10.1016/j.molonc.2015.06.005
Subject(s) - medicine , hepatocellular carcinoma , pi3k/akt/mtor pathway , angiogenesis , cancer research , ampk , protein kinase b , carcinogenesis , wnt signaling pathway , sorafenib , targeted therapy , oncology , bioinformatics , kinase , protein kinase a , signal transduction , cancer , biology , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a complex and heterogeneous tumor most commonly associated with underlying chronic liver disease, especially hepatitis. It is a growing problem in the United States and worldwide. There are two potential ways to prevent HCC. Primary prevention which is based on vaccination or secondary prevention involving agents that slow down carcinogenesis. Several pathways have been thought to play a role in the development of HCC; specifically, those involving vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)‐mediated angiogenesis, WNT, phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K)/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK), and c‐MET. Currently, there are only a limited number of drugs which have been proven as effective treatment options for HCC and several clinical trials are testing drugs which target aberrations in the pathways mentioned above. In this review, we discuss currently approved therapies, monotherapies and combination therapy for the treatment of HCC.