Around 3,000 people each year in the UK are diagnosed with primary liver cancer - cancer that starts in the liver. Unfortunately the disease is very difficult to treat successfully and fewer than six per cent of patients are still alive after five years.

Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK said: "This research is particularly exciting".

"Liver cancer is difficult to treat so this makes it even more important to investigate ways to detect precancerous changes in cells in order to catch liver cancer before it has had a chance to fully develop.

"This research is a fantastic example of how science has the potential to have a direct impact in cancer diagnosis and treatment in the future."

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Notes: *Poly(ADP-ribose)-Dependent Regulation of DNA Repair by the Chromatin Remodelling Enzyme ALC1. Ahel et al. Science. 6th August 2009.