Figure 3.

Schematic representation of multistage hepatocarcinogenesis. After hepatocarcinogenesis initiation, the initiated cells undergo a selective expansion that leads to the development of foci of altered hepatocytes (FAH), early dysplastic nodules (DN), late DN, and hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). Severely damaged cells may undergo apoptosis (not shown), whereas weak DNA damage followed by DNA repair may consent initiated cells to re-differentiate (remodeling; reverse arrows). Remodeling progressively decreases and ceases in cancer cells.