SynthesisJournal for immunotherapy of cancer2020
Viral status, immune microenvironment and immunological response to checkpoint inhibitors in hepatocellular carcinoma.
Synthesis in Journal for immunotherapy of cancer, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of immune-based combinations across treatment lines in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- Viral Status and Efficacy of Immunotherapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Pooled it
- Antiviral therapy and hidden predictors of postoperative outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma.BMC cancer · 2026Article
- Phase II trial with nivolumab and sorafenib in HCC identified enrichment of immunosuppressive monocytes in patients with Child-Pugh B liver dysfunction.JHEP reports : innovation in hepatology · 2026Article
- Systemic immune profiling uncovers divergent mechanisms and predictive biomarkers of response to combination immunotherapies in hepatocellular carcinoma.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Article
- Prognostic Relevance of Neddylation-Related Genes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Journal of hepatocellular carcinoma · 2026Article
- Colon-Targeted astragalus polysaccharide nanoparticles prevent NAFLD-Driven hepatocarcinogenesis via microbiota remodeling and NF-κB Inhibition.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2025Article
- Novel Therapeutics for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Clinics in liver disease · 2025Review
- Pan-microbial serological repertoire as a biomarker of immunotherapy response in hepatocellular carcinoma.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2025Article
- Combination immunotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma: synergies among immune checkpoints, TKIs, and chemotherapy.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2025Review
- Microbiome meets immunotherapy: unlocking the hidden predictors of immune checkpoint inhibitors.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- FBXO family genes promotes hepatocellular carcinoma via ubiquitination of p53.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2024Article
- Triterpenoids-templated self-assembly nanosystem for biomimetic delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 based on the synergy of TLR-2 and ICB to enhance HCC immunotherapy.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2024Article
- Impact of baseline hepatitis B virus viral load on the long-term prognosis of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with immunotherapy.World journal of gastrointestinal oncology · 2024Article
- Impact of underlying liver disease on unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.BJC reports · 2024Article
- Immunotherapy Efficacy in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma in a Diverse and Underserved Population in the United States.Journal of hepatocellular carcinoma · 2024Article
- State-of-the-art cytometry in the search of novel biomarkers in digestive cancers.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Review
- Current state and challenges of emerging biomarkers for immunotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma (Review).Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2023Review
- Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha and Adiponectin in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Cancers · 2023Review
- Perspective on the Role of Gut Microbiome in the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsImmune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway have clinical activity in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but only a subset of patients respond to these therapies, highlighting a need for novel biomarkers to improve clinical benefit. HCC usually occurs in the setting of liver cirrhosis from chronic hepatitis B or C viral infection, but the effects of viral status on the tumor immune microenvironment and clinical responses to ICIs in HCC remains unclear.
methodsWe conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the objective response rates for PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in virally-infected and uninfected patients, and examined the effects of viral etiology on the tumor microenvironment using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, as well as peripheral blood responses using an independent cohort of patients studied by mass cytometry (cytometry by time-of-flight (CyTOF)).
resultsMeta-analysis comparing objective response rates (ORR) between virally-infected and uninfected patients showed no clinically meaningful difference (absolute difference of ORR in virally-infected vs uninfected=-1.4%, 95% CI: -13.5% to 10.6%). There was no relationship between viral etiology on features of the tumor immune microenvironment that are known to modulate responses to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, and the tumor mutational burden was similar between virally-infected and uninfected HCC. RNA sequencing of tissue-resident T cell and B cell repertoires similarly showed no effect of viral status on their diversity. CyTOF analysis of peripheral blood specimens further demonstrated similar expression of immune-related markers in response to PD-1 inhibitor therapy in virally-infected and uninfected HCC.
conclusionThere is no significant effect of viral etiology on the tumor immune microenvironment in HCC, and viral status should not be used as a criterion to select patients for PD-1/PD-L1 therapy.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.