Developmental pathways, environmental agents, and epigenetics in liver disease
Description: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the 5th leading cause of cancer related deaths and its incidence is rising in the United States. Unlike many other tumor types, the predisposing factors for the majority of HCCs are known and all are due to external environmental agents and/or human behaviors such as chronic alcohol abuse and hepatitis C infection. While it is known that these agents alter our epigenome, a regulatory system directing gene activity and genome stability, and preferentially target certain gene pathways, the full extent of the epigenetic changes and when they occur in precancerous liver lesions (cirrhosis) remains unknown. It is therefore critical to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the epigenome in these targeted pathways in normal and diseased liver to understand how epigenetic changes lead to HCC and how they may be developed into novel treatments and diagnostic tools to improve patient survival and quality of life. Such studies are the focus of this proposal.
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: R01
Start date: 2011-09-20
End date: 2017-06-30
Investigator: CHEN LIU
Institution: MAYO CLINIC ROCHESTER
Funded outputs count: 18
Funder award ID: R01AA019976
OpenAlex ID: G2863607392