Hepatocellular carcinoma chemoprevention with generic agents
Fahmida Rasha 1 , Subhojit Paul 1 , Tracey G Simon 2 , Yujin Hoshida 1
Affiliations
Affiliations
1
Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, United States.
2
Division of Gastroenterology, Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, United States.
PMID: 36104114 DOI: 10.1055/a-1942-6693
Abstract
Liver cancer, mainly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), remains a major cause of cancer-related death worldwide. With the global epidemic of obesity, the major HCC etiologies have been dynamically shifting from viral to metabolic liver diseases. This change has made HCC prevention difficult with increasingly elusive at-risk populations as rational target for preventive interventions. Besides ongoing efforts to reduce obesity and metabolic disorders, chemoprevention in patients who already have metabolic liver diseases will have a significant impact on the poor HCC prognosis. Hepatitis B- and C-related HCC incidences have been substantially reduced by the new anti-virals, but HCC risk can persist over a decade even after successful viral treatment, highlighting the need for HCC-preventive measures also in these patients. Experimental and retrospective studies have suggested potential utility of generic agents such as lipophilic statins and aspirin for HCC chemoprevention given their well characterized safety profile, although anticipated efficacy may be modest. In this review, we overview recent clinical and translational studies of generic agents in the context of HCC chemoprevention under the contemporary HCC etiologies. We also discuss newly emerging approaches to overcome the challenges in clinical testing of the agents to facilitate their clinical translation.
Thieme. All rights reserved.
Conflict of interest statement
T.G.S. serves as a consultant for Aetion and receives grant from Amgen. Y.H. serves as an advisory board member for Helio Genomics and Espervita Therapeutics, and shareholder for Alentis Therapeutics and Espervita Therapeutics.