Sulfatase 1: a new Jekyll and Hyde in hepatocellular carcinoma?

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a frequent and deadly human disease (1). Several lines of evidence indicate that the gradual accumulation of genomic alterations, leading to progressive deregulation of different signaling pathways, induces the progressive evolution of initiated liver cells to dysplastic nodules and malignant lesions (1). Molecular events leading to cell cycle deregulation in HCC include up-regulation of RAS/ERK, PI3K/AKT, IKK/NF-kB, WNT, TGF-β, NOTCH, HEDGEHOG, and HIPPO signaling pathways, and genes involved in DNA repair process (2). Better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying hepatocarcinogenesis may hasten the identification of novel molecular HCC progression markers and development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.