Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 1K12, Ghent University Hospital, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden.
Int J Oncol. 2014 Apr;44(4):1015-22. doi: 10.3892/ijo.2014.2286. Epub 2014 Feb 3.
Primary liver tumours have a high incidence and mortality. The most important forms are hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, both can occur together in the mixed phenotype hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma. Liver progenitor cells (LPCs) are bipotential stem cells activated in case of severe liver damage and are capable of forming both cholangiocytes and hepatocytes. Possibly, alterations in Wnt, transforming growth factor-β, Notch and hypoxia pathways in these LPCs can cause them to give rise to cancer stem cells, capable of driving tumourigenesis. In this review, we summarize and discuss current knowledge on the role of these pathways in LPC activation and differentiation during hepatocarcinogenesis.
原发性肝肿瘤具有较高的发病率和死亡率。最重要的形式是肝细胞癌和肝内胆管癌，这两种肿瘤可以在混合表型的肝细胞-胆管细胞癌中同时发生。肝祖细胞（LPC）是一种在严重肝损伤时被激活的双潜能干细胞，能够形成胆管细胞和肝细胞。可能，这些 LPC 中 Wnt、转化生长因子-β、Notch 和缺氧途径的改变会导致它们产生癌症干细胞，从而驱动肿瘤发生。在这篇综述中，我们总结和讨论了这些途径在肝祖细胞激活和肝肿瘤发生过程中的分化中的作用。
