Figure 1

Gd-EOB-DTPA uptake. In healthy hepatocytes, the hepatobiliary contrast agent Gd-EOB-DTPA is distributed from sinusoidal spaces into the interstitium and consecutively into hepatocytes. Gd-EOB-DTPA sinusoidal clearance into the liver is controlled by the transport of organic anion-transporting polypeptides (OATPs). Absorbed Gd-EOB-DTPA passes from hepatocytes into the bile canaliculi and partially returns to the interstitium with the help of multiple resistance-associated proteins (MRP1); this intercompartmental transfer generates a ratio between the sinusoids, interstitium, hepatocytes, and bile canaliculi. In tumor cells, the expression of MRP is often maintained, whereas the expression of OATP1B1/B3 tends to decrease over the course of hepatocarcinogenesis¹⁴.