The autotaxin-lysophosphatidic acid pathway emerges as a therapeutic target to prevent liver cancer

Mol Cell Oncol. 2017 Mar 31;4(3):e1311827. doi: 10.1080/23723556.2017.1311827. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Using transcriptome meta-analysis, we recently identified the autotaxin (ATX)-lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) pathway as a regulator of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk in human cirrhosis patients. Pharmacological targeting of this pathway reduced fibrosis progression and HCC development in animals, identifying ATX-LPA signaling as a novel chemoprevention strategy for cirrhosis and HCC.

Keywords: ATX; HCC; LPA; LPAR1; NASH; chemoprevention; cirrhosis; fibrosis; hepatocellular carcinoma; non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.