Pathomolecular characterization of HCC in non-cirrhotic livers

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer and usually arises in cirrhotic livers. Increasingly, it is diagnosed in non-cirrhotic livers. A variety of risk factors and etiologies can trigger the development of HCC in non-fibrotic and non-cirrhotic backgrounds. The most important causes are metabolic syndrome and hepatitis B virus infection. Postulated pathogenetic mechanisms are direct carcinogenesis, chronic liver injury and repair cycles, and genetic/epigenetic aberrations. Histopathology has a very important role in the diagnosis of non-cirrhotic HCC. Gross features of non-cirrhotic HCC are quite different from HCC originating in a cirrhotic background. Microscopic characteristics are similar to a classical HCC. However, certain histological variants show a predilection to occur in non-cirrhotic livers. These encompass fibrolamellar, scirrhous, steatohepatitic and mixed hepato-cholangiocarcinoma subtypes. Due to the non-cirrhotic background, adenoma, metastasis and most of the other non-neoplastic and neoplastic conditions enter the differential diagnosis. Genomic studies and morpho-molecular classifications of HCC provide further understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of non-cirrhotic HCC. This group however, has rarely been exclusively studied. This review offers an update of etiology, patho-molecular characteristics and differential diagnosis of HCC arising in non-cirrhotic backgrounds.

Keywords

Hepatocellular carcinoma / non-cirrhotic / etiopathogenesis / molecular genetics / pathology / patho-molecular / differential diagnosis

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