Long-term effect of liver resection on circulating stem cells expressing PD-L1 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma–Pilot study
Published in Zeitschrift für Gastroenterologie, 2022
Abstract
Liver resection remains the most effective and practical treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. However, HCC still has a high recurrence rate after curative treatments. Consequently, there currently remains an unmet need for research on adjuvant therapy such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) after curative treatment for HCC. ICIs have been shown to be an evolving novel treatment option in certain advanced solid tumors and have been recently approved for inoperable, advanced, and metastatic HCC. Because circulating stem cells (CSCs) are more likely to initiate tumor growth than mature cancer cells, a high level of CSCs may be a hint for HCC recurrence. The aim of the study is to determine if the expression of PD-L1 on CSCs (PD-L1+ CSCs) prior to and during 1-year post-surgery follow-up is related to recurrence free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS).