(ANSA) – ROME, DECEMBER 17 – A low concentration of HDL cholesterol in patients with fatty liver can predict the diagnosis of liver cancer well in advance. This is demonstrated by a study supported by the Airc Foundation (Italian Association for Cancer Research) published in the Journal of Hepatology Reports.
Until a few years ago, most liver tumors were associated with hepatitis B and C infections. Today, however, it is known that the most frequent liver tumor in subjects between 55 and 75 years of age is hepatocellular carcinoma which develops in subjects without infection, apparently healthy, who do not experience any symptoms, but who already have a pathological condition of steatosis in the liver, i.e. an accumulation of fat that can lead to subsequent fibrosis.
As part of studies on metabolism and liver cancer, the research group coordinated by Professor Antonio Moschetta, at the ‘Aldo Moro’ University of Bari, demonstrated that in subjects with liver fibrosis, a low level of HDL cholesterol, also known as ‘good cholesterol’, it is associated with a greater probability of developing hepatocellular carcinoma and seems to be able to predict the disease as early as five years before diagnosis.
In the study, the researchers analyzed the parameters of more than 1000 subjects, suspected patients with metabolic problems.
“Individuals who developed hepatocellular carcinoma in the following five years, at the first evaluation at time 0, showed lower levels of HDL cholesterol, liver fibrosis being equal – says Moschetta, coordinator of the study -. Furthermore, selecting the patients who then developed cancer among those five years earlier who had low HDL cholesterol, we observed that they showed a significant increase in waist size, which is a measure of fat deposits in visceral adipose tissue and a sign of inflammation in the body.” Therefore, the discovery that a single blood biomarker can predict the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma well in advance could allow the identification of subjects at risk, even before they develop specific symptoms. In other words, it may be possible to prevent this type of cancer, through nutritional and/or drug modifications. “Today we know – concludes Lucilla Crudele, first author of the study – that a subject who has fatty liver and low HDL cholesterol associated with an increased waist size has an increased risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma within the next 5 years. This information allows us to follow these patients with punctual and repeated ultrasound scans, and give them indications to change their lifestyle in order to return to an optimal condition to protect themselves and reduce the risk of developing cancer”. (HANDLE).
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