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Liver Delivery

Role of BNIP3 gene in controlling fat metabolism in liver cancer

03 December 2022

Liver Delivery

Worldwide, obesity has tripled since 1975, creating a global health crisis. Being obese increases our risk of 13 different cancers, including the most common liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). If you have HCC, being obese increases your risk of dying by up to four times. Understanding how obesity triggers this cancer is key to identifying at-risk people and finding new treatments. Here, we see a liver (red) from a mouse missing the BNIP3 gene. When scientists treated mice with a chemical that causes HCC, tumours (white) grew faster and bigger in those lacking BNIP3. Researchers also showed that people with HCC and low BNIP3 activity have fattier livers and worse survival rates. This gene slows the growth of HCC by delivering fat stores in the liver to our cellular disposal machinery. Finding ways to switch BNIP3 back on in HCC could be a new strategy to treat the disease.

Written by Henry Stennett

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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