Hypercholesterolaemia in primary cancer of the liver

Hepatic synthesis of cholesterol in higher animals is normally markedly suppressed by dietary cholesterol. This feedback regulation has been shown to be absent in all experimental hepatomas studied, and also in the only 2 humans with primary hepatocellular cancer (PHC) who have been investigated. Another patient who presented with hypercholesterolaemia is described in whom cholesterogenesis in the tumor was not suppressed by cholesterol feeding. In order to determine the frequency with which hypercholesterolaemia occurs in PHC, serum cholesterol levels were measured in 132 Black patients with this tumor. Raised levels were found in 14 of the patients (11%). In only 2 of these was hypercholesterolaemia associated with obstructive jaundice.