Photo Credit: ArtemisDiana

A study published in Molecular Immunology has identified and validated five significant prognostic genes related to the progression from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The genes include ME1, TP53I3, SOCS2, GADD45G, and CYP7A1. Although NASH is strongly correlated with HCC and has become a major contributor of liver cancer, a current definitive diagnostic method for NASH is still mostly limited to biopsy. With a diagnostic model for NASH prediction established, TP53I3 and SOCS2 were selected as potential critical genes in the progression of NASH-HCC by external dataset validation and in vitro experiments on NASH and HCC cell lines. A correlation between the five genes and immune cells was seen in immune infiltration analysis. Further, a single-cell analysis “identified and revealed the critical role that NASH-HCC related hepatocytes play in NASH-HCC transformation,” researchers wrote.