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🗺️ Disease Atlas · Gastrointestinal disease

hepatocellular carcinoma

A malignant tumor that arises from hepatocytes. Hepatocellular carcinoma is relatively rare in the United States but very common in all African countries south of the Sahara and in Southeast Asia. Most cases are seen in patients over the age of 50 years, but this tumor can also occur in younger individuals and even in children. Hepatocellular carcinoma is more common in males than females and is associated with hepa…

🔔 Follow weekly
🧬15511genes / proteins with evidence
💊478drugs and clinical candidates
🧪12+recruiting trials worldwide
✅8approved
📈99phase 3
🧬

Understand hepatocellular carcinoma

Cancer · Cells that grow out of control
🎓 Learn more

What it is

Risk factors for primary liver cancer include:

Having hepatitis B or C

Heavy alcohol use

From MedlinePlus: Liver Cancer (US National Library of Medicine) ↗

🧬 Cancer: Cancer is a group of diseases in which some of the body's cells grow and divide without control, and can spread to other parts of the body.

❓ Why it happens

  • Changes (mutations) build up in the genes that tell a cell when to grow, divide and die.
  • Most of these changes happen during life: tobacco, too much sun, alcohol, some infections (such as HPV and hepatitis B and C), radiation, obesity and ageing all raise the risk.
  • Some people inherit a faulty gene that raises their risk, such as BRCA1 or BRCA2.

🫀 What it does to the body

  • Cancer cells form a lump (tumour) that can press on or invade nearby organs.
  • They can travel through the blood or lymph to start new tumours elsewhere (metastasis).
  • Blood cancers crowd out healthy blood cells in the bone marrow.

🧱 Why it is hard to cure

  • Every cancer is different, even between two people with the same type - and inside one tumour.
  • Cancer cells keep changing, so they can learn to resist a medicine that worked at first.
  • Cancer cells are the body's own cells, so killing them without harming healthy cells is hard.
  • Many cancers cause no symptoms until they have spread, and a new medicine often takes more than ten years to go from the lab to patients.

🚀 What research is trying now

  • Targeted medicines against the exact gene change in a tumour (for example EGFR, ALK or KRAS).
  • Immunotherapy that helps the immune system recognise cancer, including CAR-T cell therapy.
  • Personalised cancer vaccines built from each tumour's mutations, now in late trials.
  • Blood tests that look for tumour DNA to find cancer earlier, and AI to read scans and slides.

General information about cancer, reviewed by people; it does not describe any one person. Below: the evidence for hepatocellular carcinoma itself.

🤖

AI briefing

Where the science on hepatocellular carcinoma stands, from the evidence on this page

AI reads the targets, drugs, trials and papers below and writes where the science stands — every claim cited. It is shared with everyone who opens hepatocellular carcinoma.

🎯

Top targets

Genes and proteins ranked by Open Targets evidence (0-1)
TP53 tumor protein p53PROTACothersmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.80
CTNNB1 catenin beta 1PROTACantibodyothersmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.80
AXIN1 axin 1PROTACantibodysmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.79
MET MET proto-oncogene, receptor tyrosine kinasePROTACantibodyothersmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.78
APC APC regulator of Wnt signaling pathwayPROTACantibodysmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.74
FLT4 fms related receptor tyrosine kinase 4PROTACantibodysmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.70
RET ret proto-oncogenePROTACantibodyothersmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.69
KDR kinase insert domain receptorPROTACantibodyothersmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.68
KIT KIT proto-oncogene, receptor tyrosine kinasePROTACantibodysmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.68
BRAF B-Raf proto-oncogene, serine/threonine kinasePROTACantibodysmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.68
PIK3CA phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alphaPROTACantibodysmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.68
RAF1 Raf-1 proto-oncogene, serine/threonine kinasePROTACantibodysmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.67
ARID1A AT-rich interaction domain 1APROTAC🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.67
PDGFRB platelet derived growth factor receptor betaPROTACantibodyothersmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.67
FLT3 fms related receptor tyrosine kinase 3PROTACantibodyothersmall molecule🧊 AlphaFold structure ↗ 0.67

Green labels: what the target is known to be druggable by. The score combines genetics, somatic mutations, drugs, expression and literature.

💊

Drugs and candidates

Every medicine linked to hepatocellular carcinoma, by how far it has got
Approved · 8
AlcoholApproved
CabozantinibVascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 inhibitor; Hepatocyte growth factor recepto…Approved
DurvalumabProgrammed cell death 1 ligand 1 inhibitorApproved
FluorouracilThymidylate synthase inhibitorApproved
LeucovorinApproved
OxaliplatinApproved
Show all 8
SorafenibSerine/threonine-protein kinase RAF inhibitor; Platelet-derived growth factor receptor be…Approved
TremelimumabCytotoxic T-lymphocyte protein 4 inhibitorApproved
In phase 2 / 3 · 20
AcetazolamideCarbonic anhydrase I inhibitor; Carbonic anhydrase II inhibitorPhase 3
AdebrelimabProgrammed cell death 1 ligand 1 inhibitorPhase 3
Aglatimagene BesadenovecPhase 3
Albumin HumanPhase 3
Arginine HydrochloridePhase 3
AtezolizumabProgrammed cell death 1 ligand 1 inhibitorPhase 3
Show all 20
BenmelstobartPhase 3
BevacizumabVascular endothelial growth factor A inhibitorPhase 3
BrivanibFibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitor; Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor …Phase 3
Brivanib AlaninateFibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitor; Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor …Phase 3
CadonilimabProgrammed cell death protein 1 inhibitor; Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte protein 4 inhibitorPhase 3
CamrelizumabProgrammed cell death protein 1 antagonistPhase 3
CapecitabineThymidylate synthase inhibitorPhase 3
CarboplatinPhase 3
CatequentinibVascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 inhibitor; Vascular endothelial growth fact…Phase 3
Catequentinib HydrochloridePhase 3
ChlorotrianiseneEstrogen receptor beta modulatorPhase 3
CisplatinPhase 3
Cs-1003Programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitorPhase 3
CyclophosphamidePhase 3
Early trials · 20
Abx-196Phase 1/2
Aeg-35156Phase 1/2
Aldoxorubicin HydrochloridePhase 1/2
AllantoinPhase 1/2
Ascorbic AcidPhase 1/2
AvadomidePhase 1/2
Show all 20
BafisontamabHepatocyte growth factor receptor inhibitor; Epidermal growth factor receptor erbB1 inhib…Phase 1/2
BelinostatHistone deacetylase inhibitorPhase 1/2
BumetanideSodium-(potassium)-chloride cotransporter 2 inhibitorPhase 1/2
C-188-9Phase 1/2
Cv-8102Phase 1/2
Cyc-065Phase 1/2
DalanterceptGrowth/differentiation factor 2 inhibitor; Bone morphogenetic protein 10 inhibitorPhase 1/2
DecitabineDNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 3A inhibitor; DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 1 inh…Phase 1/2
Denileukin DiftitoxElongation factor 2 inhibitor; Interleukin-2 receptor binding agentPhase 1/2
Dkn-01Dickkopf-related protein 1 inhibitorPhase 1/2
E-7386Phase 1/2
EniluracilDihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase inhibitorPhase 1/2
EnlonstobartPhase 1/2
Epirubicin HydrochloridePhase 1/2
🧪

Recruiting trials

Worldwide, open to new patients now
Regional Lymph Node Metastasis and Survival Outcomes in Advanced HCCNCT06876753 · n/a · 📍 NanjingImmunohistochemical Algorithm for the Diagnosis and Classification of Hepatocellular Carcinomas With TERT, TP…NCT06718153 · NA · 📍 BolognaFOLFOX Combined With Durvalumab (MEDI4736), Bevacizumab, and Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy in Sequential Tre…NCT07012798 · Phase 2 · 📍 TianjinTriple Therapy Sequential Radiotherapy in Unresectable HCC (TALENP003)NCT06561399 · n/a · 📍 FuzhouIrreversible Electroporation Combined With Targeted Therapy and Immunotherapy for Advanced Hepatocellular Car…NCT07832006 · Phase 2 · 📍 BeijingThe Safety, Efficacy, and Immune Response of Multimodal Thermal Therapy in the Treatment of Malignant Liver T…NCT07159048 · NA · 📍 ShanghaiTACE and/or HAIC Combined With Molecular-targeted Therapy and Immunotherapy for HCCNCT07658833 · n/a · 📍 GuangzhouDonafenib as Adjuvant Therapy Following Ablation for Recurrent HCCNCT06609876 · NA · 📍 BeijingDual-Target GPC3/B7-H3 CAR-NK Cells for Advanced HCCNCT07500220 · Phase 1, Phase 2 · 📍 ShenzhenGPC3 Targeted Fluorescence Image Guided Surgery of Hepatocellular CarcinomaNCT05047510 · NA · 📍 ZhuhaiA Study of PF-08046054/SGN-PDL1V in Advanced Solid TumorsNCT05208762 · Phase 1 · 📍 BirminghamCelecoxib, Durvalumab and Tremelimumab for the Treatment of Patients With Advanced or Metastatic Liver CancerNCT07174570 · Phase 2 · 📍 Atlanta Search more trials →
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