University of Illinois Cancer Center Associate Director for Basic Science Nissim Hay, PhD, is the Principal Investigator on a new five-year nearly $3 million National Cancer Institute R01 grant to investigate the role of hexokinase 2 (HK2) in liver fibrosis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), also known as liver cancer.
Hepatic fibrosis is a major cause of mortality in patients with NASH, an advanced form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease caused by buildup of fat in the liver. Hepatic fibrosis also plays a major role in the development of HCC, which is among the leading causes of cancer death worldwide.
Work by the Hay Lab suggests “that targeting HK2 could be therapeutic for both liver fibrosis and NASH-induced HCC. In this grant application we will further validate the role of HK2 in liver fibrosis and how it affects NASH-induced HCC. … Finally, as a proof of concept, we will verify if systemic HK2 deletion, which does not elicit adverse physiological consequences, could inhibit both fibrosis and HCC,” according to project details in the NIH RePorter.
Hay is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago.