Cellular Metastasis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Primary liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of death in the world population. Most deaths in HCC are due to hepatic failure as a result of tumor replacement without any clinically significant metastasis. Thus, the focus of research on liver cancer has been on its primary cause of death. Very little is studied on the metastatic potential of HCC cells. Most of the studies till date were done in autopsy examinations. This study was done with aims of assessing the metastatic propensity of HCC cells and camparing metastasis in parental and chemotherapy resistant HCC cells. These aims were targeted with the views to creating an awareness of the metastatic ability of HCC in conventional laboratory, and further understating the metastatic behavior of HCC, as well as of their resistant sub-clones.