Taiwan researchers unveil safer strategy for liver cancer treatment

Taipei, May 3 (CNA) Medical researchers from National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) and Taipei Medical University (TMU) presented key findings from their previous collaboration at a symposium on Saturday, including the potential to treat liver cancer without harming healthy cells.

While conventional cancer treatments like chemotherapy often harm healthy cells, Tsai Feng-chiao (蔡丰喬), an attending physician at NTUH, said at the Taipei symposium that he and his team hope their treatment, developed over the past four years, will provide a safer, more precise alternative by targeting specific genes in liver cancer.

Using a comprehensive analysis of various biological data, Tsai's team found that elevated levels of three genes -- YAP, STK40, and SLK- are closely linked to liver cancer progression, often seen in late-stage patients.

YAP is a gene that regulates body and organ size, and when it becomes disrupted in cancer cells, it can lead to "uncontrolled cancer growth and expansion," Tsai explained.

He said current treatments cannot directly target YAP because it also plays a crucial role in regulating other healthy cells.

STK40 and SLK, unlike YAP, are not widely expressed in healthy cells and tend to appear primarily in dysregulated ones, Tsai said.

His team found that suppressing STK40 and SLK can reduce YAP activity in tumor cells and stop liver cancer cells from spreading without harming normal tissue.

"With the right combination of treatment strategies, we can prevent tumors from spreading uncontrollably and instead reach a state of long-term coexistence," Tsai said.

The research findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Science in mid-2021, and since then, the team has been preparing to begin animal testing, which could eventually lead to applications in humans, Tsai explained.

Tsai said that liver disease is Taiwan's "national disease," noting that hepatitis B once affected one in five people in the country.

In 2023, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis -- often linked to hepatitis B -- claimed 3,813 lives, making it the 12th leading cause of death nationwide, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Meanwhile, 7,724 people died from liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancer.

Tsai said that with interventions such as the hepatitis B vaccination, the progression from hepatitis to cirrhosis and liver cancer, as well as the incidence of all three diseases, has declined in recent years.

"While those [hepatitis B-targeted] treatments are highly effective, they are often less effective against liver disease and cancer caused by other factors," he said, adding that this gap in treatment prompted him to develop a new approach.