The purpose of this project is to examine the role of epigenetic mechanisms as factors that predetermine individual susceptibility to development of hepatocellular carcinoma and to provide evidence that epigenetic alterations may be used as markers of susceptibility to disease development and correction of those epigenetic abnormalities during hepatocarcinogenesis may be a crucial decisive factor in cancer prevention strategies. The goal of this project is to create new approaches and tools, termed epigenetic biomarkers, that can be used in epidemiological and clinical studies to identify individuals in the population who may be susceptible to NAFLD development. Furthermore, the results of these sutdies may have a great significance for the identification of vulnerable subpopulations to NAFLD and liver carcinogenesis, considering the potential reversibility of epigenetic alterations, and opening novel cancer prevention approaches.
