Weiguo Fan, Kolade Adebowale, Lóránd Váncza, Yuan Li, Md Foysal Rabbi, Koshi Kunimoto, Dongning Chen, Gergely Mozes, David Kung-Chun Chiu, Yisi Li, Junyan Tao, Yi Wei, Nia Adeniji, Ryan L Brunsing, Renumathy Dhanasekaran, Aatur Singhi, David Geller, Su Hao Lo, Louis Hodgson, Edgar G Engleman, Gregory W Charville, Vivek Charu, Satdarshan P Monga, Taeyoon Kim, Rebecca G Wells, Ovijit Chaudhuri, Natalie J Török
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Changes in extracellular matrix (ECM) mechanics contribute to cancer development1,2 , and increased stiffness is known to promote HCC progression in cirrhotic conditions3,4 . Type 2 diabetes mellitus is characterized by an accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) in the ECM; however, how this affects HCC in non-cirrhotic conditions is unclear. Here we find that, in patients and animal models, AGEs promote changes in collagen architecture and enhance ECM viscoelasticity, with greater viscous dissipation and faster stress relaxation, but not changes in stiffness...
January 31, 2024: Nature