Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 14, 2024; 30(22): 2843-2848
Published online Jun 14, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i22.2843
New challenges in hepatocellular carcinoma: A role for PIWI-interacting RNAs?
Domenico Tierno, Gabriele Grassi, Bruna Scaggiante
Domenico Tierno, Gabriele Grassi, Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences, University Hospital of Cattinara, University of Trieste, Trieste 34149, Italy
Bruna Scaggiante, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste 34127, Italy
Author contributions: Tierno D and Scaggiante B designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript; Grassi G contributed to the discussion of the manuscript; Tierno D, Grassi G, and Scaggiante B contributed to the writing and editing of the manuscript; Tierno D contributed to the illustrations and review of literature.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bruna Scaggiante, PhD, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via Valerio 28, Trieste 34127, Italy. bscaggiante@units.it
Received: March 29, 2024
Revised: May 10, 2024
Accepted: May 20, 2024
Published online: June 14, 2024
Processing time: 68 Days and 22.9 Hours
Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common and deadliest subtype of liver cancer worldwide and, therefore, poses an enormous threat to global health. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the development and progression of HCC is central to improving our clinical approaches. PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that bind to PIWI family proteins to regulate gene expression at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. A growing body of work shows that the dysregulation of piRNAs plays a crucial role in the progression of various human cancers. In this editorial, we report on the current knowledge of HCC-associated piRNAs and their potential clinical utility. Based on the editorial by Papadopoulos and Trifylli, on the role and clinical evaluation of exosomal circular RNAs in HCC, we highlight this other emerging class of non-coding RNAs.

Keywords: Biomarker, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Liquid biopsy, Non-coding RNA, PIWI-interacting RNA, Next-generation sequencing

Core Tip: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a worldwide clinical problem. Over the past decade, several papers have suggested that specific PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) may be useful as efficient HCC biomarkers at both tissue and serum levels. Interestingly, the piRNA expression profile changes dynamically over the course of the pathological stage from liver fibrosis to HCC development and progression. Knowledge of piRNAs may improve our understanding of HCC and open new clinical perspectives.