CIITA-related block of HLA class II expression, upregulation of HLA class I, and heterogeneous expression of immune checkpoints in hepatocarcinomas: implications for new therapeutic approaches.

ABSTRACT: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second cause of death for cancer worldwide, justifying the urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches. Immunotherapeutic strategies based on triggering and/or rescuing tumor antigen-specific T cells may be promising particularly if combined together. As preliminary step toward this goal, we have investigated the expression of antigen presenting molecules (HLA class I and class II) and immune checkpoints (PD-1 and PD-L1) in 43 HCC samples from distinct patients and in HCC cell lines. While normal hepatocytes did not express HLA class I and II, HCC cells strongly upregulated HLA class I while remaining negative for HLA class II. The absence of HLA class II expression in HCC cell lines correlated with lack of expression of the HLA class II transactivato

SUBMITTER: Ramia E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6350839 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature