Asynchronous Transitions from High-Risk Hepatoblastoma to Carcinoma - PubMed
12 hours ago
- #WNT signaling
- #hepatocellular carcinoma
- #hepatoblastoma
- Pediatric hepatocellular tumors include hepatoblastoma (HB) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with some showing mixed features (HBCs).
- HBCs consist of heterogeneous mixtures of HB-like, HBC-like, and HCC-like molecular cell types.
- HBC outcomes are worse than HB, with HBC cells being more chemoresistant due to cell identity, genetic alterations, and embryonic differentiation stage.
- HBC cells originate from HB cells arrested at early hepatic stem cell development stages due to aberrant WNT signaling activation.
- Inhibition of WNT signaling promoted differentiation and enhanced chemotherapy sensitivity.
- HBCs reflect dynamic processes of multiple HB-to-HBC and HBC-to-HCC transitions, indicating evolutionary complexity.
- A study limitation is the inability to pinpoint chemotherapy-induced genome modifications' role.