Liver Cancer

• There are several distinct forms of liver cancer, the most common of which is called hepatocellular carcinoma, also known as HCC. Most primary liver cancers begin in liver cells, or hepatocytes.
  
  
• The main cause of liver cancer around the world is infection with the hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus. Other risk factors include heavy alcohol use, obesity and diabetes.
  
  
• The number of liver cancer cases associated with hepatitis C infection is likely to triple over the next 10 to 20 years because of the high incidence of this virus. Hepatitis C affects an estimated 3 percent of the world's population and 2 percent of the U.S. population.
  
  
• The overall survival rate of HCC is poor because most patients are diagnosed when the tumor is in an advanced stage.

Hepatitis C –  Dr. Laura Beretta is studying healthy liver tissue at the cellular level to learn how it becomes cancerous and why some people develop liver cancer after a hepatitis infection while others do not. This work, which employs new strategies developed by Beretta's lab, may also lead to effective early-stage therapies for hepatitis C and liver cancer.

Hepatitis C – Dr. Laura Beretta also leads research that is trying to identify particular genes and proteins involved in liver cancer development, which is currently not well understood. The goal is to single out biomarkers — that is, telltale molecules in the blood — that are necessary for hepatitis C to replicate and that could help detect liver cancer at its earliest stages, when it’s most treatable.