Understanding Gene ENvironment Interaction in ALcohol-related Hepatocellular Carcinoma

It has been estimated that alcohol causes around 40% of premature liver deaths in Europe each year, although this number is probably underestimated. Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) is the most common cause of liver cirrhosis and liver death in Europe with a peak age of deaths occurring among individuals aged 40 to 50. Despite these findings, ALD is little studied with only 5% of all clinical trials in the field of liver disease recorded on ClinicalTrials.gov and only 5% of all publications in the same research area. Liver cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death (15-20% survival at 5 years) and the second most common cause of alcohol-related cancers worldwide. Like other complex diseases, ALD-HCC results from the interaction between environmental determinants and genetic variations but knowledge of gene-environment interactions is currently lacking in this area. The GENIAL project will address these needs through a comprehensive evaluation of gene-environment interactions concerning ALD-HCC.