The gut microbiome and hepatocellular carcinoma: Implications for early diagnostic biomarkers and novel therapies

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. HCC almost exclusively develops in patients with chronic liver disease, driven by a vicious cycle of liver injury, inflammation and regeneration that typically spans decades. Recently, increasing investigation of the microbiome –gut–liver axis enhances our understanding of the role of the gut microbiota in promoting the progression of liver disease and the development of HCC. In this review, we summarize mechanisms by which the gut microbiota promotes hepatocarcinogenesis, focusing on bacterial dysbiosis, the leaky gut , microbe-associated molecular patterns and bacterial metabolites as key pathways that drive cancer-promoting liver inflammation, fibrosis and genotoxicity. Furthermore, we discuss the important potential of gut microbiota as an early diagnostic biomarker of HCC. Gut microbiota may be as a promising target for the simultaneous prevention of chronic liver disease progression and HCC development in patients with advanced liver disease. We outlook in detail therapeutic modalities in which targeting the gut microbiota for the prevention of disease progression and HCC development seems promising.
Source: Liver Cancer - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research