Dear Colleagues,

Liver cancer is known as the second most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, with a steadily increasing rate of incidence and mortality. Liver cancer usually comprises hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA), fibrolamellar HCC (FLC), and the pediatric neoplasm hepatoblastoma.

It is well documented that mature hepatocytes can dedifferentiate into nestin-positive progenitor-like cells to generate primary liver cancers, and chronic inflammation contributes to liver carcinogenesis through cell survival and proliferation signals that promote the formation of regenerative nodules, dysplasia, and cancer via the activation of tumor necrosis factor, interleukin (IL)-6, FOXO, JAK–STAT, nuclear factor κB, insulin-like growth factor, and mTOR or stem cell markers, hedgehog, NOTCH, VEGF, and noncoding RNAs, including miRNAs, siRNAs, PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs ), and long coding RNAs.

The main focus of this Special Issue will be to evaluate cellular and molecular mechanisms and the potential of synthetic or natural compounds for the treatment of liver cancers. Thus, this Special Issue will provide a platform for all pharmaceutical and translational scientists to learn important breakthroughs in drug discovery and new therapeutics in this field.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Molecular mechanisms related to hepatocellular progression:
   1. Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT);
   2. VEGF antagonists and VEGFR inhibitors;
   3. Antagonists of integrins (avb3, avb5, a5b1, etc.).
2. Metabolic alterations in hepatocellular progression:
   1. Obesity and mesenchymal stem cells;
   2. Lipid synthesis and metabolism: i.e., fatty acid synthase (FASN) and AMACR;
   3. Stroma–cancer cell interactions and hypoxia;
   4. Fatty liver pathogenesis.
3. Cellular alterations in liver diseases, including liver fibrosis and cancer:
   1. Regulation of ECM components in fibrotic liver;
   2. Modulation of myofibroblasts in liver fibrosis;
   3. Inactivation of hepatic stellate cells for liver cancer treatment.
4. Strategy to overcome resistance to radiotherapy or chemotherapy:
   1. Tyrosin kinase inhibitor resistance;
   2. Radio-sensitizing;
   3. Antagonists of cell recruitment (monocytes, granulocytes, cancer stem cell-like cells).
5. Inflammation-associated signaling in liver cancer: mechanisms and clinical implications.
6. Chemopreventive agents for liver cancer treatment:
   1. Synthetic compounds;
   2. Phytochemicals.

Prof. Sung-Hoon Kim
Prof. Sanjay K. Srivastava
Guest Editors

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• hepatocellular carcinoma
• liver fibrosis
• molecular mechanism
• cellular alterations
• inflammation
• chemoprevention

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