In mice fed a high‑fat diet, the hormone‑like peptide kisspeptin‑10 slowed liver cancer growth by turning down the activity of key enzymes that break down sugar. The study shows kisspeptin can counteract the cancer‑promoting effects of a fatty diet, at least in animal models.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, with metabolic syndrome emerging as a major risk factor. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the association between metabolic syndrome and hepatocellular carcinoma progression are not fully understood. Here, we investigated the role of kisspeptin signaling in hepatocellular carcinoma progression under metabolic dysregulation. High-fat diet feeding significantly decreased hepatic kisspeptin receptor expression in mice. Integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses revealed that kisspeptin primarily regulated glycolysis-related pathways. In a N-Nitrosodiethylamine-induced hepatocellular carcinoma mouse model, high-fat diet accelerated tumor progression accompanied by kisspeptin receptor downregulation. Treatment with kisspeptin-10 attenuated high-fat diet-promoted hepatocellular carcinoma progression and decreased the expression of key glycolytic enzymes HK, PFKM, and PKM2. In vitro studies using HepG2 cells further confirmed that kisspeptin-10 inhibited these glycolytic enzymes in a dose-dependent manner. The integration of transcriptomic and metabolomic data demonstrated that kisspeptin exerts broad inhibitory effects on metabolism, particularly glucose metabolism, also suggesting potential antitumor effect. Our results suggest kisspeptin as a potential therapeutic target for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with metabolic syndrome.