Source: The Third Affiliated Hospital
Written by: The Third Affiliated Hospital
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the main form of liver cancer, is the third most frequent cause of cancer death worldwide. Previously, Prof. Bin Wu’s lab from The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University indicated that hepatocellular carcinogenesis is a strong connection with chronic hepatitis infection, including hepatitis B (HBV) and C virus (HCV), alcohol abuse or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (World J Gastroenterol. 2014 20:13546-55). However, the mechanism of inflammation-linked hepatocellular carcinogenesis is still unclear.

Recently, researchers of Prof. Wu’s group identified that ARRB1 was involved in hepatocellular carcinogenesis via inflammation-mediated Akt signal, and TNF-a/ARRB1/Akt axis played a critical role. They discovered that hepatic inflammation significantly induced TNF-a production and ARRB1 expression, TNF-α directly induced hepatic ARRB1 expression and enhanced ARRB1 interaction with Akt through binding to boost Akt phosphorylation, resulting in hepatocellular malignant proliferation and carcinogenesis. The results indicated that ARRB1 may be a potential therapeutic target for HCC. The study entitled “β-arrestin1 is involved in hepatocellular carcinogenesis via an inflammation-mediated Akt signal” has been published online in Nature Communications (Nat Commun. 2015 Jun 16; 6:7369. doi: 10.1038/ncomms8369).

This work was partly supported by grants from the Major Projects Incubator Programme of the National Key Basic Research Programme of China, the International Cooperative Innovative Platform of Guangdong Province Universities and Colleges, and the Projects of Guangzhou City International Cooperation.

At present, Prof. Wu’s group has been investigating the mechanism of HBV involved in hepatocellular carcinogenesis, and searching early diagnostic biomarkers of HBV-related HCC. The purpose is to provide new methods for the early diagnosis and early treatment of HCC.