Hepatocellular Carcinomas: Towards a pathomolecular approach.

Area of Science:

• Hepatobiliary pathology
• Molecular oncology
• Cancer genomics

Background:

• Molecular analysis is refining the pathological diagnosis of primary liver malignancies.
• Hepatocellular proliferation includes malignant (hepatocellular carcinomas) and benign (hepatocellular adenomas) subtypes.
• Understanding these subtypes is crucial for accurate diagnosis and patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the role of molecular analysis in diagnosing and understanding liver malignancies.
• To identify key molecular alterations in hepatocellular carcinogenesis.
• To assess the impact of pathomolecular approaches on patient prognosis and targeted therapy selection.

Main Methods:

• Review of molecular analyses in primary liver malignancies.
• Identification of tumor subtypes based on hepatocellular proliferation.
• Analysis of genomic alterations, including TERT promoter mutations.

Main Results:

• Molecular analysis refines pathological diagnosis and identifies diverse hepatocellular proliferation subtypes.
• TERT promoter mutations are frequent early genomic alterations in liver carcinogenesis.
• A combined pathomolecular approach aids in prognosis and targeted therapy selection.

Conclusions:

• Molecular insights are crucial for precise diagnosis and classification of liver tumors.
• TERT promoter mutations play a significant role in early liver cancer development.
• Active biopsy strategies informed by molecular data are essential for managing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).