Translational medicine in primary liver cancer / 中华肝胆外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Primary liver cancer is the third most common cause of death from cancer worldwide, and it is the second cause of cancer death in China. A variety of molecular markers and signaling pathways associated with hepatocarcinogenesis and tumor progression have been discovered in basic research in the recent decade. However, the 5 year survival of patients has not been remarkably improved, due in a large part to the late diagnosis and the limited treatment options. It seems that translational medicine should be accelerated to addres this problem. Translational medicine has been shown to bridge basic research and clinical practice in a B2B model from bench to the bedside and bedside to the bench. It goes from the bench to bedside where theories emerging from preclinical experimentation are tested on patients, and from bedside to the bench, where information obtained from preliminary clinical sciences is used to refine the understanding of the biological principles. In liver cancer, diagnostic markers screening, development of molecular classification, and stratifying patients for targeted therapy are considered as exciting fields of translational medicine. The integration of basic and clinical sciences by translational medicine will improve not only the understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms, but also the clinical outcomes in patients with primary liver cancer.