Diabetes and Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Cirrhosis Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the world. NAFLD is a hepatic manifestation of insulin resistance, the core pathophysiology of diabetes. Multiple clinical studies show that diabetes increases the risk of liver disease progression and cirrhosis development in patients with NAFLD. Diabetes has causal associations with many different cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). More recent studies demonstrate that diabetes increases the risk of HCC in patients with underlying NAFLD cirrhosis, confirming the direct hepatocarcinogenic effect of diabetes among cirrhosis patients. Diabetes promotes hepatocarcinogenesis via the activation of inflammatory cascades producing reactive oxygen species and proinflammatory cytokines, leading to genomic instability, cellular proliferation, and inhibition of apoptosis. Given the global increase in the burden of NAFLD and HCC, high-risk patients such as older diabetic individuals should be carefully monitored for HCC development. Future larger studies should explore whether the effect of diabetes on HCC risk in NAFLD cirrhosis is modifiable by the type of antidiabetic medication and the effectiveness of diabetes control.     

Comparison of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients With Alcoholic Liver Disease and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis

Background: Alcoholic hepatitis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) show different clinical features with similar liver histology, but both disorders may progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCC arising in alcoholic liver disease (ALD) or NASH, without hepatitis B or C virus infection, has been a rare observation, and there are no studies comparing the characteristics of ALD and NASH patients with HCC. Therefore, we compared the characteristics of ALD and NASH patients with HCC.
Methods: A total of 1202 patients received a diagnosis of HCC at Tokyo Women's Medical University from 1989 to 2003, and their clinical data were collected prospectively. A clinical diagnosis was made to diagnose ALD, and clinical and histological changes were required to diagnose NASH. Of these patients, 88 received a diagnosis of HCC arising from ALD. Among them, a biopsy specimen was obtained in 50 patients (ALD-HCC group). We compared the clinical and histological characteristics of 50 ALD and 8 NASH patients (NASH-HCC group) associated with HCC. They all were negative for hepatitis virus infection by serological methods.
Results: The most significant difference between these groups was sex. Women were significantly more common in the NASH-HCC group (6% vs. 63%; p < 0.0001). The median age was 65 years in the ALD-HCC group and 68 years in the NASH-HCC group. The risk factors for NASH all were high in the NASH-HCC group. However, liver function tests were similar in these groups. In the ALD-HCC group, 46 (92%) patients showed severe fibrosis; 2 had septal fibrosis and 44 had cirrhosis. All patients in the NASH-HCC group showed severe fibrosis, and seven had cirrhosis.
Conclusions: Severe fibrosis might be an important risk factor for HCC. Patients who have ALD or NASH with cirrhosis may develop HCC. This seems to occur in a sufficient number of cases to warrant regular screening for this complication.     

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease after Liver Transplant

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease in the world. The rising prevalence of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has led to a 170% increase in NASH cirrhosis as the listing indication for liver transplantation from 2004 to 2013. As of 2018, NASH has overtaken hepatitis C as an indication for liver transplantation in the USA. After liver transplantation, the allograft often develops recurrent NAFLD among patients with known NASH cirrhosis. In addition to recurrent disease, de novo NAFLD has been reported in patients with other indications for liver transplantation. In this review, we will discuss the risk factors associated with recurrent and de novo NAFLD, natural course of the disease, and management strategies after liver transplantation.