Effective Antiviral Therapy Improves Immunosuppressive Activities in the Immune Microenvironment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Alleviating Inflammation and Fibrosis.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

The immune microenvironment (IME) plays a crucial role in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In HCC, the IME is often compromised by hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, chronic inflammation, and fibrosis. Both antiviral therapy (AVT) and the alleviation of inflammation and fibrosis (AIF) have been shown to improve prognosis. However, the relationship among the IME of HCC, AVT, and AIF remains unclear.

Methods

A total of 140 and 110 primary HBV-related HCC patients were enrolled as training and validation sets, respectively, to establish a HCC-immune microenvironment score (H-IME score). Immunohistochemistry was performed to assess the number of granzyme B+ (GrB+) and Foxp3+ cells, as well as the expression of CTLA-4, PD-1, LAG3, TIGIT, TIM3

SUBMITTER: Wang ZT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11632120 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature