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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 7, 2016; 22(9): 2668-2677
Published online Mar 7, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i9.2668
Epigenetic regulation of insulin-like growth factor axis in hepatocellular carcinoma
Hend Mohamed El Tayebi, Ahmed Ihab Abdelaziz
Hend Mohamed El Tayebi, Ahmed Ihab Abdelaziz, The Molecular Pathology Research Group, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, German University in Cairo, Cairo 11835, Egypt
Author contributions: El Tayebi HM contributed in literature reviewing, manuscript writing and editing; Abdelaziz AI contributed in designation, revision and correction of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to report.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Ahmed Ihab Abdelaziz, MD, PhD, The Molecular Pathology Research Group, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, German University in Cairo, New Cairo City - Main Entrance of Al Tagamoa Al Khames, Cairo 11835, Egypt. ahmed.ihab.abdelaziz@gmail.com
Telephone: +20-2-27590714 Fax: +20-2-27581041
Received: April 28, 2015
Peer-review started: May 7, 2015
First decision: August 31, 2015
Revised: September 29, 2015
Accepted: December 8, 2015
Article in press: December 8, 2015
Published online: March 7, 2016
Processing time: 308 Days and 14.6 Hours
Abstract

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling pathway is an important pathway in the process of hepatocarcinogenesis, and the IGF network is clearly dysregulated in many cancers and developmental abnormalities. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), only a minority of patients are eligible for curative treatments, such as tumor resection or liver transplant. Unfortunately, there is a high recurrence of HCC after surgical tumor removal. Recent research efforts have focused on targeting IGF axis members in an attempt to find therapeutic options for many health problems. In this review, we shed lights on the regulation of members of the IGF axis, mainly by microRNAs in HCC. MicroRNAs in HCC attempt to halt the aberrant expression of the IGF network, and a single microRNA can have multiple downstream targets in one or more signaling pathways. Targeting microRNAs is a relatively new approach for identifying an efficient radical cure for HCC.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma; Insulin-like growth factors; Insulin-like growth factor receptors; Epigenetics; microRNAs

Core tip: Recent research efforts have focused on targeting the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis in an attempt to identify therapeutic options for many health problems. Here, we review the regulation of IGF axis members in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), mainly by microRNAs. MicroRNAs work by halting the aberrant expression of the IGF network, as demonstrated by the fact that a single microRNA can have multiple downstream targets in one or more signaling pathways. Use of this approach in an attempt to find an efficient radical cure for HCC.