Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39927235›Full record

ArticleJHEP reports : innovation in hepatology2025

AI-based tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte scoring system for assessing HCC prognosis in patients undergoing liver resection.

Zhiyang Chen, Tingting Xie, Shuting Chen, Zhenhui Li, Su Yao, Xuanjun Lu, Wenfeng He, Chao Tang, Dacheng Yang, Shaohua Li and 7 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in JHEP reports : innovation in hepatology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

17 authors.

Zhiyang ChenDepartment of Radiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Tingting XieMedical Imaging Center, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
Shuting ChenDepartment of Radiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Zhenhui LiDepartment of Radiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Yunnan Cancer Hospital, Yunnan Cancer Center, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
Su YaoDepartment of Pathology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Xuanjun LuSchool of Electronics Engineering, Xi'an Shiyou University, Xi'an, China.
Wenfeng HeDepartment of Radiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Chao TangDepartment of Radiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Dacheng YangMedical Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou China.
Shaohua LiDepartment of Liver Surgery, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
Feng ShiDepartment of Interventional Radiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Huan LinDepartment of Radiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Zipei LiSchool of Computer Science, University of St Andrews, Fife, UK.
Anant MadabhushiWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Xiangtian ZhaoDepartment of Radiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Zaiyi LiuDepartment of Radiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Cheng LuDepartment of Radiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background & Aims: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), particularly CD8+ TILs, are key prognostic markers in many cancers. However, their prognostic value in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains controversial, with different evidence. Given the heterogeneous outcomes in patients with HCC undergoing liver resection, this study aims to develop an AI-based system to quantify CD8+ TILs and assess their prognostic value for patients with HCC. Methods: We conducted a retrospective multicenter study on patients undergoing liver resection across three cohorts (N = 514). We trained a deep neural network and a random forest model to segment tumor regions and locate CD8+ TILs in H&E and CD8-stained whole-slide images. We quantified CD8+ TIL density and established an Automated CD8+ Tumor-infiltrating Lymphocyte Scoring (ATLS-8) system to assess its prognostic value. Results: In the discovery cohort, the 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 34.05% for ATLS-8 low-score and 65.03% for ATLS-8 high-score groups (hazard ratio [HR] 2.40; 95% CI, 1.37-4.19; Conclusions: We developed an automated system using CD8-stained whole-slide images to assess immune infiltration (ATLS-8). In patients with HCC undergoing resection, higher CD8+ TIL density correlates with better OS, as per ATLS-8 assessment. This system is a promising tool for advancing clinical immune microenvironment assessment and outcome prediction. Impact and implications: CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have been identified as a prognostic factor associated with many cancers. In this study, CD8+ TILs were identified as an independent prognostic factor for overall survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who undergoing liver resection. Therefore, ATLS-8, a novel digital biomarker based on whole-slide image-level CD8+ TILs, could play an important role in the prognostic assessment of patients with HCC and could be integrated into clinicopathological models to participate in the decision-making and prognostic assessment of patients. The scoring system combined with artificial intelligence is essential for automated, quantitative, whole-slide image-level assessment of TILs, which can be widely applied to quantify the immune profile of multi-cancer disease types with the discussion of subsequent immunotherapy.

Indexed as

Artificial intelligenceCytotoxic T lymphocyteHepatocellular carcinomaTumor-infiltrating lymphocyte

Identifiers

PMID39927235
PMCPMC11803844

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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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.