Mechanism underlying liver cancer discovered

Researchers have identified the key role played by a molecule called fatty acid binding protein 5 (FABP5) and found that inhibiting it blocks hepatocellular carcinoma tumor progression in many cases.

During the experiments, scientists fed mice a special diet that causes fat to accumulate in the liver. Previous studies have shown that this diet promotes nonalcoholic fatty liver disease over time, followed by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and then hepatocellular carcinoma in mice, mimicking the disease transition in humans.

FABP5 levels were found to be highly elevated in liver tumor cells in mice. By analyzing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (a collection of more than 20,000 human cancer samples), the researchers found that FABP5 was overexpressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells, and patients with high FABP5 expression had a significantly lower five-year survival rate than patients with low expression this protein.

By treating a group of mice with a molecule that inhibits FABP5, the researchers found that it blocked tumor progression. While 50 percent of mice not treated with the inhibitor developed liver tumors, only 25 percent of mice treated with the inhibitor did.