Steatohepatitic Variant of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Is Associated with Both Alcoholic Steatohepatitis and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis: A Study of 2 Cohorts with Molecular Insights

Jia Qin, Takaaki Higashi, Shigeki Nakagawa, Naoto Fujiwara, Yo Ichi Yamashita, Toru Beppu, Hideo Baba, Masahiro Kobayashi, Hiromitsu Kumada, Ganesh Gunasekaran, Thomas D. Schiano, Swan N. Thung, Maria Isabel Fiel, Yujin Hoshida, Stephen C. Ward

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Steatohepatitic hepatocellular carcinoma (SH-HCC) is a variant of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with established association with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), while its association with alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) is unclear. We studied 2 cohorts of patients who underwent resection for HCC in the setting of steatohepatitis. In our Mount Sinai (New York) cohort, we found SH-HCC in 17/24 (71%) patients with NASH and in 14/19 (74%) patients with ASH, while SH-HCC was the predominant tumor morphology in 12/24 (50%) in the NASH group and 9/19 (47%) in the ASH group. Upon review, 12/19 patients diagnosed with ASH also had diabetes and/or a body mass index >30. When these patients were removed, we still found similar rates of SH-HCC (6/7 [86%] showed SH-HCC, while SH-HCC was predominant in 3/7 [43%]. Interestingly, glycogenated hepatocyte nuclei were seen in the nontumor liver in 4/7 (57%) of these cases. In our Japan cohort, we also found similar rates of SH-HCC in NASH and ASH patients with HCC, 15/58 (26%), and 16/45 (36%), respectively. We determined molecular subclassification of tumors from the Japan cohort and found no difference in the distribution of S1, S2 and S3 subclasses among the ASH and NASH groups, though, among cases of SH-HCC, there was a trend toward an association of ASH with S1 (P=0.054) and NASH with S3 (P=0.052). Our study shows that SH-HCC is common in both ASH and NASH and that both underlying liver diseases produce tumors with similar molecular profiles, though different pathways may underlie the development of SH-HCC in ASH versus NASH.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1406-1412
Number of pages7
JournalAmerican Journal of Surgical Pathology
Volume44
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2020

Keywords

  • alcoholic steatohepatitis
  • hepatocellular carcinoma
  • nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Steatohepatitic Variant of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Is Associated with Both Alcoholic Steatohepatitis and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis: A Study of 2 Cohorts with Molecular Insights'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this