Hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF) is a ubiquitously expressed molecule that elicits pleiotropic functions on epithelial cells, including mitogenic, motogenic, differentiating, angiogenic and morphogenic effects. In hepatoblastoma (HB), post-operative residual tumor growth and tumor recurrences are often associated with markedly elevated serum levels of HGF, suggesting a link between...

Hepatoblastoma (HB) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are two main primary liver malignant tumors in children arising from hepatocytes. These pediatric tumors are generally considered to be fatal because of their late diagnosis, underlying liver disease, common metastases, and refractoriness to systemic treatments. Earlier diagnosis, identifying precursor conditions, and proper monitoring and ...

BACKGROUND Formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) samples are a valuable resource in cancer research and have the potential to be extensively used. However, they are often underused because of degradation and chemical modifications occurring in the RNA that can present obstacles in downstream analysis. In routine medical care, FFPE material is examined and archived, therefore clinical collecti...

This study aimed to summarize the first experience with ultrasound-guided percutaneous ablation treatment (PAT) for recurrent hepatoblastoma (HB) after liver resection in children. From August 2013 to October 2014, PAT was used to treat 5 children with a total of 8 recurrent HB (mean size, 1.4 ± 0.8 cm; size range, 0.7-3.1 cm), including 4 patients with 7 tumors in the liver and 1 patient with ...

Hepatoblastoma is the most common liver cancer in children, accounting for over 65% of all childhood liver malignancies. Hepatoblastoma is distinct from adult liver cancer in that it is not associated with hepatitis virus infection, cirrhosis, or other underlying liver pathology. The paucity of appropriate cell and animal models has been hampering the mechanistic understanding of hepatoblastoma...

Aberrant wnt/β-catenin signaling and amplification/overexpression of Myc are associated with hepatoblastoma (HB), the most prevalent type of childhood liver cancer. To address their roles in the pathogenesis of HB, we generated mice in which Myc and mutant β-catenin were targeted to immature cells of the developing mouse liver. Perinatal coexpression of both genes promoted the preferential deve...

BACKGROUND In this study we retrospectively evaluated if ¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT provided incremental diagnostic information over CI in a group of hepatoblastoma patients performing restaging. PROCEDURE Nine patients (mean age: 5.9 years; range: 3.1-12 years) surgically treated for hepatoblastoma were followed up by clinical examination, serum α-FP monitoring, and US. CI (CT or MRI) and PET/CT were pe...

  Background Hepatoblastoma is a common liver malignancy in children and commonly presents with primary tumors. In hepatoblastoma, lung is the most common place to metastasis. Chemotherapy have led to many improvements in the local control of hepatoblastoma. A main goal of treatment for hepatoblastoma is to achieve complete tumor resection. Case Presentation The patient was a 2.5 years old boy ...

OBJECTIVE Glypican-3 (GPC3) is reported to be an oncofetal protein that is a useful diagnostic immunomarker for hepatoblastoma. However, the results are not inclusive. This study systemically investigated the association between expression of GPC3 and pediatric hepatoblastoma. METHODS Clinical studies evaluating the association were identified using a predefined search strategy. GPC3 immunohi...

The liver is the third-most-common site for intra-abdominal malignancy in children, follow‐ ing adrenal neuroblastoma and wilms tumor. Although the overall incidence of childhood cancer has been slowly increasing since 1975, cancer in children and adolescents is still rare, the incidence of primary malignant liver tumors per year is 1-1.5 per million children in the United States [1, 2, 3, 4]. ...