Abstract:
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most
debilitating malignancies of hepatic origin and does not
only contribute significantly to global cancer-related mortality
but also global disease burden. Malfunctioning and
dysregulation of the entero-hepatic axis culminating from
chronic ingestion of dietary and other non-specific food
substances have been implicated in liver disease pathogenesis
and this has the potential to increase risk of HCC.
As a result, there have been increased efforts to advance
understanding of the role played by the perturbed gut in
liver disease and the key cell and molecular players involved.
Luckily, growing evidence from many independent
studies seem to lend credence to the phenomenon of
bidirectional pathogenesis of entero-hepatic diseases. This
has raised hopes of finding more sensitive and specific
biomarkers for prognosis and diagnosis of entero-hepatic
diseases as well as identification of new therapeutic targets,
more specifically for therapy against major risk factors
(NAFLD, NASH, liver fibrosis, and cirrhosis) of HCC.
This chapter takes a panoramic view of the interactions between the perturbed gut and the susceptible liver. Specifically,
the chapter highlights the consequences of gut
dysbiosis for liver disease pathogenesis and the risk of
HCC.
