Current concepts in pathophysiology and management of hepatocellular carcinoma

Additional approaches to control malignancies are needed due to the emerging trends in the incidence of cancer of different organ sites. Due to the high frequency of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its poor prognosis, preventing HCC is an urgent priority. To explore the antioxidant and apoptotic pathways of grape seed extract (GSE) we induce HCC experimentally by diethyl-nitrosoamine (DEN) and treated the animals with low and high doses of GSE. The results indicate good therapeutic possibilities for GSE use in treatment of HCC., This was evidenced via regression of liver enzymes' function (ALT&AST), the HCC markers; alpha-fucosidase, alpha-fetoprotein and carcinoembrionic antigen (CEA) in HCC groups treated with the grape seed extract. Also, tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) showed a significant decrease using GSE in HCC bearing animals. Regarding the apoptotic pathways of GSE, we found a significant down regulation of apoptosis enhancing nuclease (Aen), Bcl2-associated X protein (Bax), B-cell translocation gene 2(Btg2), Cyclin G1 (Ccng1) and Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (Cd-kn1a) gene expression in HCC+GSE groups as compared to HCC bearing group. In the same trend, the necrotic/apoptotic rates were significantly higher in the HCC groups treated with GSE vs. the HCC bearing group. Finally, the 8-OHdG/2-dG generation decreased by 73.8% and 52.9% in HCC+GSE at low and high doses, respectively. Based on these encouraging observations, grape seed extract could be a promising natural remedy for attenuating hepatocellular carcinoma that has a great future in approaches directed towards control of HCC.