Saturday Spotlight💫: Nearly 10 years ago, TSC1/2 mutations were found to define an aggressive subtype of liver cancer. Here (doi.org/10.1172/JCI206334), Wen-Xing Ding @wxding1 & team @KUMedCenter report that loss of hepatic TSC1 leads to noncanonical TFEB activation and promotes hepatocyte plasticity and tumor heterogeneity associated with high-grade malignancy in mouse and human #HepatocellularCarcinoma. The image shows changes in liver cell fate with TFEB-overexpressing hepatocytes (green) having increased labeling for SOX9 (blue), a marker for tumor aggressiveness.

Nearly 10 years ago, TSC1/2 mutations were found to define an aggressive subtype of liver cancer. Here (doi.org/10.1172/JCI206334), Wen-Xing Ding @wxding1 & team @KUMedCenter report that loss of hepatic TSC1 leads to noncanonical TFEB activation and promotes hepatocyte plasticity and tumor heterogeneity associated with high-grade malignancy in mouse and human #HepatocellularCarcinoma. The image shows changes in liver cell fate with TFEG-overexpressing hepatocytes (green) having increased labeling for SOX9 (blue), a marker for tumor aggressiveness.

In the 1960’s, #megamitochondria in hepatocytes were identified in injured liver tissue. Here, Wen-Xing Ding @wxding1 & team @KUMedCenter find alterations in mitochondrial dynamics and the accumulation of large mitochondria contribute to #liver #tumor development in mice: doi.org/10.1172/JCI194441 # MASH The EM image shows liver cells with megamitochondria (arrows) from mice lacking liver-specific dynamin-related protein 1 (Dnm1).