**3. Components of signaling pathways involved in HCC insurgence and progression as innovative biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and drug targeting**

In the last years, great attention has been given to some signaling pathways which deregulation or constitutive activation have been demonstrated to have a role in cancer insurgence and progression. These pathways could be of interest for therapeutic perspectives, because targeting them may contribute to prevent tumorigenesis or achieve tumor reversion. Drugs directly acting on components of the signaling pathways implicated in tumorigenesis have exhibited clinical benefit in patients with various tumor types, including colorectal, renal, breast and lung cancers, and more recently, HCC (Whittaker et al., 2010). Thus, deepening of knowledge on the molecular pathways actively involved in HCC insurgence and progression could potentially provide new targets for drug delivery and therapy, allowing to overcome the poor response to the current therapeutic strategies. Moreover, owing the role of these pathways in the carcinogenetic process, crucial molecules of this signaling should be validate as new HCC-related biomarkers for the improvement of the current diagnostic/prognostic tools.
