Both Maternal High-Fat and Post-Weaning High-Carbohydrate Diets Increase Rates of Spontaneous Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Aged-Mouse Offspring

Both maternal obesity and postnatal consumption of obesogenic diets contribute to the development of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, there is no consensus as to whether diets that are high in fat or carbohydrates/sugars differentially influence the development of HCC. Moreover, the long-term effects of prenatal HF exposure on HCC and whether this is influenced by postnatal diet has not yet been evaluated. C57BL/6 dams were fed either a low-fat, high-carbohydrate control (C) or low-carbohydrate, high-fat (HF) diet. At weaning, male and female offspring were fed the C or HF diet, generating four diet groups: C/C, C/HF, HF/C and HF/HF. Tissues were collected at 16 months of age and livers were assessed for MASLD and HCC. Glucose regulation and pancreatic morphology were also evaluated. Liver tissues were assessed for markers of glycolysis and fatty acid metabolism and validated using a human HCC bioinformatic database. Both C/HF and HF/HF mice developed obesity, hyperinsulinemia and a greater degree of MASLD than C/C and HF/C offspring. However, despite significant liver and pancreas pathology, C/HF mice had the lowest incidence of HCC while tumour burden was highest in HF/C male offspring. The molecular profile of HCC mouse samples suggested an upregulation of the pentose phosphate pathway and a downregulation of fatty acid synthesis and oxidation, which was largely validated in the human dataset. Both pre-weaning HF diet exposure and post-weaning consumption of a high-carbohydrate diet increased the risk of developing spontaneous HCC in aged mice. However, the influence of pre-weaning HF feeding on HCC development appeared to be stronger in the context of post-weaning obesity. As rates of maternal obesity continue to rise, this has implications for the future incidence of HCC and possible dietary manipulation of offspring carbohydrate intake to counteract this risk.