International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article Accumulation of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, L-arginine and Glucose Metabolites by Liver Tumor Cells Are the Important Characteristic Features of Metabolic Syndrome and Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis-Associated Hepatocarcinogenesis Anna Kakehashi 1,* , Shugo Suzuki 1, Naomi Ishii 1, Takahiro Okuno 1, Yuko Kuwae 2, Masaki Fujioka 1 , Min Gi 1 , Vasily Stefanov 3 and Hideki Wanibuchi 1 1 Department of Molecular Pathology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Abeno-ku, 1-4-3 Asahi-machi, Osaka 545-8585, Japan;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +81-6-6645-3737 Received: 20 August 2020; Accepted: 16 October 2020; Published: 20 October 2020 Abstract: To uncover mechanisms and explore novel biomarkers of obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)-associated hepatocarcinogenesis, cellular and molecular alterations in the liver, and hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) were investigated in NASH model 60-week-old Tsumura, Suzuki, Obese Diabetic (TSOD) mice and NASH HCC patients. Markedly elevated lipid deposition, inflammation, fibrosis, and peroxisome proliferation in the liver, preneoplastic lesions, and HCCs of TSOD mice were accompanied by accumulation of polysaccharides in the cellular cytoplasm and nuclei and increase of oxidative DNA damage marker, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) formation in the liver and altered foci.