Chemoprevention of hepatocellular carcinoma by next-generation antipsychotic aripiprazole.

Aripiprazole prevents progression of MASH-induced hepatocellular carcinoma in rats, linked to antifibrogenic and anti-inflammatory modulation of liver fibroblasts and macrophages.

• Why it matters: Advanced liver disease and HCC have limited treatment options, and effective strategies to prevent HCC development are lacking.
• What they did: The study combined analyses of clinical liver tissues, a rat model using a choline-deficient L-amino acid-defined high-fat diet, cancer cell perturbation experiments, and patient-derived tumor spheroid assays.
• The result: Aripiprazole modulates fibrogenesis-related pathways and inflammation, inhibits cMET and ERK signaling with reduced proliferation, and alters immune responses in the tumor microenvironment, supporting its chemoprevention potential.

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