Review Article
Hepatic Stellate Cells in Hepatocellular Carcinogenesis: Possible Therapeutic Targets?
| Cristin Constantin Vere1,2, Alin Gabriel Ionescu1, Costin Teodor Streba1,2* and Otilia Rogoveanu1 | |
| 1University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Romania | |
| 2Research Center of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of Craiova, Romania | |
| Corresponding Author : | Costin Teodor Streba Research Center of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Bvd. 1 Mai nr. 66, Craiova 200638, Romania E-mail: costinstreba@gmail.com |
| Received March 29, 2013; Accepted May 03, 2013; Published May 05, 2013 | |
| Citation: Vere CC, Ionescu AG, Streba CT, Rogoveanu O (2013) Hepatic Stellate Cells in Hepatocellular Carcinogenesis: Possible Therapeutic Targets? J Gastroint Dig Syst S12:006. doi:10.4172/2161-069X.S12-006 | |
| Copyright: © 2013 Vere CC, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play a crucial role in liver fibrosis, following inflammatory processes within the parenchyma. Their activation pathways give way to a cascade of phenomena which are potentially dangerous for the liver metabolism at a cellular level. The changes towards fibrosis pave the way for the evolution of hepatitis into cirrhosis, the most important etiological entity of hepatocellular carcinoma. In this review, we try to cover a few of the basic aspects of the intricate mechanisms that govern the complex activation of HSCs, their involvement in carcinogenesis and how these molecular targets may become valuable in the future therapeutic approaches for primary liver carcinomas.
