Mechanism of Liver Regeneration During ALPPS

Abstract

Liver cancer is one of the most lethal malignant tumors in the world, and surgical resection is the main treatment for liver cancer. Liver failure due to insufficient residual liver volume is a fatal complication after hepatectomy. How to effectively increase the residual liver volume after hepatectomy and improve the safety of hepatectomy has always been a problem to be solved in liver surgery. Associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) effectively reduces the occurrence of liver failure due to insufficient residual liver volume after hepatectomy, thereby increasing the probability of radical resection by inducing rapid proliferation of residual liver tissue. However, the molecular mechanism of residual liver tissue regeneration after primary ALPPS (combined liver partition and portal vein ligation) remains unclear. Here, we found that lots of circular RNAs (circRNAs) are upregulated after ALPPS in pig liver cells; then, we identified the orthologous circRNA in humans and pigs to detect their function in liver regeneration. The results showed that loss of circ-0067724 and circ-0016213 could suppress liver cell proliferation. Together, these findings suggest that circ-0067724 and circ-0016213 play an important role in liver cell proliferation, and this may help us to find new strategies to promote liver regeneration.