AFP and hepatocellular carcinoma: This review delineates shared pathways like TGFβ/SMAD, WNT/β-catenin, Hedgehog, NOTCH, Hippo/YAP-TAZ and MAPK, linking fibrosis to HCC and opening avenues for dual antifibrotic/antitumor therapies.<h4>Results and conclusions</h4>So far, validated biomarker tools for fibrosis, like FIB-4, Enhanced Liver Fibrosis (ELF) and combined direct/indirect markers of liver damage and tissue remodeling, are used for fibrosis staging, while HCC detection leverages serum parameters like α-fetoprotein (AFP) or, more recently, multi-omics approaches (miRNA, cfDNA, metabolomics).