Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Metabolic Liver Disease-associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Dear Colleagues,

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide, accounting for 80–90% of primary liver cancer cases. Many risk factors contribute to HCC, including chronic hepatitis viral infection, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic fatty liver disease, and dietary toxins. Although the incidence of metabolic liver disease-associated HCC has been increasing over the past years, the associated cellular and molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Accumulating evidence shows that non-alcoholic and alcoholic steatohepatitis can induce an immunosuppressive microenvironment in the liver. This is characterized by infiltration of myeloid-derived immunosuppressive cells and regulatory T cells, induction of cytotoxic CD8+ T cell exhaustion, and upregulation of immune checkpoints such as PD-1. In addition, metabolic liver disease is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and endoplasmic reticulum stress. All of these factors contribute to the development of chronic liver disease-mediated HCC. The aim of this special issue is to present the latest research on cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the initiation and progression of metabolic liver disease-associated HCC. This knowledge should help to identify potential treatment targets and guide future research directions. We invite original research and review articles based on cellular and molecular studies of this topic.

Dr. Ming Yang
Guest Editor

Manuscripts should be submitted via our online editorial system at https://imr.propub.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to start your submission. Manuscripts can be submitted now or up until the deadline. All papers will go through peer-review process. Accepted papers will be published in the journal (as soon as accepted) and meanwhile listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, reviews as well as short communications are preferred. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office to announce on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts will be thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. Please visit the Instruction for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) in this open access journal is 2500 USD. Submitted manuscripts should be well formatted in good English.