The Impact of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV): From Research to Clinical Practice

Hepatic carcinogenesis is a complex process that involves profound alterations of the hepatocyte genome (1,2) and has been graded in three stages: induction, promotion, and progression in the animal models (3–5). In recent years, the use of molecular biology techniques have improved significantly the understanding of the mechanisms (alteration of gene and gene expression) that occur during the different steps of carcinogenesis.