Hormonal
Metabolic syndrome, particularly through its components of obesity and insulin resistance, increases the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and worsens clinical outcomes, primarily mediated by the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and cirrhosis.
If you have metabolic syndrome (obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, or high triglycerides), your risk of liver cancer is significantly higher, even if you don't have hepatitis. This risk is driven by the progression of fatty liver to inflammation (NASH) and cirrhosis. Managing weight and insulin sensitivity is critical to reducing this risk.
The majority of 'cryptogenic' HCC in the United States is attributed to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is a hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome... It is predicted that metabolic syndrome will lead to large increases in the incidence of HCC over the next decades.
Why this rating
Based on large prospective cohort studies and meta-analyses cited, though direct mechanistic causality in humans is still being defined.
Source
Metabolic syndrome and hepatocellular carcinoma
Abby B. Siegel et al. · Cancer · 2009
DOI 10.1002/cncr.24687
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