Liver cancer is one of the deadliest cancers in the world.
It attacks a vital organ that helps our bodies in many ways—by digesting nutrients, storing energy, balancing blood sugar, and removing toxins.
Risk factors like obesity, heavy alcohol use, and hepatitis C make people more likely to develop liver cancer. Because it often grows silently, early detection and better treatment methods are very important.
New research from the University of Basel in Switzerland is giving scientists a better understanding of how liver cancer grows.
Led by Professor Michael N. Hall and Dr. Dirk Mossmann, the study looked at how liver cancer cells change their metabolism—in other words, how they use nutrients and energy differently from healthy cells. Their discoveries were published in the journal Cell.
One surprising finding was about a nutrient called arginine. Arginine is an amino acid, which is a building block of proteins. Even though liver cancer cells don’t make much arginine, they soak up a lot of it from their surroundings. They also slow down how fast they use it, so it builds up inside the cancer cells.
But why would the cancer cells want so much arginine if they aren’t using it to build proteins? The scientists found that high levels of arginine help the cancer grow in a different way.
Arginine attaches to a specific molecule in the cell that changes how certain genes behave. This switch causes the cells to go into an early-development state—like when we were embryos—which lets the cancer cells keep dividing and growing without stopping.
There’s another trick happening too. Our immune cells need arginine to work well. So when the cancer cells take all the arginine for themselves, they also weaken the immune system. This helps the tumor stay hidden and grow without being attacked by the body’s natural defenses.
This discovery gives researchers a new idea for treatment. Instead of removing arginine completely—which could also harm the immune system—they suggest targeting the specific molecule that arginine binds to in cancer cells.
One drug called indisulam can break down this molecule. When tested, it stopped the cancer cells from changing their metabolism and slowed their growth. This approach could lead to treatments that attack the tumor while leaving healthy immune cells unharmed.
The scientists also say that high levels of arginine in cells could be used as an early warning sign for liver cancer. This could help doctors find the disease sooner, when treatment is more likely to work.
This research brings hope for new and better ways to treat liver cancer. By learning more about how cancer cells change their metabolism, doctors may be able to stop the disease more effectively in the future.
If you care about liver health, other studies show that eating an anti-inflammatory diet may help prevent liver problems. Drinking coffee may lower the risk of liver cancer, and vitamin D could help prevent fatty liver disease.
These findings were published in the journal Cell.
If you care about liver health, please read studies about Healthy liver, happy life: new advice for keeping your liver in top shape and findings of Ibuprofen may have significant impact on the liver.
For more about liver health, please read studies about Fatty liver disease linked to severe infections and findings of A new drug for weight loss and liver health.
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