SENP1 activity sustains cancer stem cell in hypoxic HCC

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, with a minority of patients surviving at 5 years from diagnosis, despite treatment.1 HCC usually develops in conditions of chronic liver disease (CLD), mostly on the background of a cirrhotic liver, with liver transplantation at present being the only treatment strategy to cure both HCC and the specific CLD. All the other therapeutic strategies, because of the underlying liver cirrhosis, have to take into account, and may be limited in their feasibility, by the residual liver function of the individual patient, a critical parameter affecting the patient's prognosis.2 Indeed, even when the surgical intervention is feasible, according to current guidelines, efficient removal of the primary lesions is not often conclusive since intrahepatic recurrence, as well as extrahepatic metastasis, are very frequent and associated with poor prognosis for patients.