AccScience Publishing / EJMO / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/EJMO025520546
PERSPECTIVE ARTICLE

Monoamine oxidase B as a context-dependent metabolic switch in hepatocellular carcinoma

Yuki Tabata*
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1 Department of Nutritional Health, Nutritional Biochemistry, Faculty of Wellness Studies, Kwassui Women’s University, Nagasaki, Japan
Received: 27 December 2025 | Revised: 26 January 2026 | Accepted: 3 February 2026 | Published online: 13 March 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

Monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) is a flavin enzyme on the outer mitochondrial membrane that produces hydrogen peroxide during amine deamination and has been implicated as a pro-tumorigenic redox driver in several cancers. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a mechanistic exception: in hepatocytes, MAO-B also catalyzes the oxidation of geranylgeraniol to geranylgeranoic acid (GGA), an acyclic retinoid-like metabolite that, in experimental models, has been shown to eliminate premalignant hepatocyte clones via apoptosis, autophagy, or pyroptosis-like inflammatory cell death. It is hypothesized that the loss of MAO-B expression in aging and chronic liver disease may contribute to a state of relative “GGA insufficiency,” only partially buffered by alternative oxidases, thereby enabling dysplastic hepatocytes to escape elimination and progress to HCC. This perspective reframes MAO-B as a context-dependent metabolic switch and outlines testable implications for biomarker development and chemoprevention in high-risk liver disease.

Keywords
Monoamine oxidase B
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Geranylgeranoic acid
Geranylgeraniol
Oxidative stress
Chemoprevention
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The author declares no conflicts of interest.
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Eurasian Journal of Medicine and Oncology, Electronic ISSN: 2587-196X Print ISSN: 2587-2400, Published by AccScience Publishing