A recent study revealed the relationship between molecular changes in healthy liver tissues and liver cancer, as the results showed how chronic hepatitis and aging play a major role in the transformation of healthy tissues into cancerous cells.
The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Hiroshima, Hiroshima Governorate Hospital, and Hiroshima University Hospital in Japan, last February, and published in the Journal of Proteome Research, and its results were presented at the European Association for Clinical Biology and Infectious Diseases Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection Diseases 2025) that was held in April in Vienna, the capital of Austria, and was written by Yurrick Alert.
Genetics and metabolom analysis in liver cancer
The study included 504 patients at a medical center in the Republic of Benin, West Africa, 38% of them had liver cancer. The research team compared healthy samples with modern techniques to analyze both genes and metaboloms (substances resulting from chemical reactions in the body).
The researchers were able to define possible paths that may contribute to the development of hepatic cell cancer, which helped define possible new treatment goals to prevent cancer.
The results have shown that chronic infections and metabolic changes associated with aging play a pivotal role in promoting the formation of this cancer.
“These results shed light on the need to develop treatments that target the molecular causes of liver cancer,” said Dr. Atawashi Ono, one of the authors of the study. He added: “In the future, we hope to allocate treatments for each patient based on molecular changes in his tissues, such as treating infections in cases associated with chronic inflammation, or restoring balance in lost chemical reactions as a result of age.”
A previous study showed the ability of green tea to reduce infections and reduce the risk of cancer development. This is due to the containing of the Epigalocatechin Gallate, which helps reduce the excessive expression of inflammatory signs, which opens the door for the possibility of using it as an auxiliary treatment to prevent liver cancer.