ArticleTransplantation direct2025
Pretransplant Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Treatment for Intermediate-advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Living Donor Liver Transplantation.
Article in Transplantation direct, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Redefining Liver Transplantation Indications for Hepatic Malignancies in the Era of Precision Transplant Oncology: An Up-to-Date Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Balancing Tumor Response and Rejection Risk After Pre-Transplant Immunotherapy: A Scoping Review.Cancers · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) as a downstaging or bridging therapy for liver transplantation (LT) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is gaining momentum. However, evidence regarding the feasibility and safety of pre-LT ICI therapy remains limited and controversial. This study presents our experience with patients with intermediate-advanced HCC who were downstaged using regimens incorporating ICIs and subsequently underwent living donor LT. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 10 patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage B or C HCC treated with locoregional therapies (LRTs), ICIs, and living donor LT at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou between 2021 and 2024. Results: In total, 10 recipients received pre-LT ICI-based downstaging therapy, with 8 also undergoing concomitant LRTs. Two patients experienced grade III immune-related hepatitis. The median ICI washout period before LT was 149 d. Posttransplantation, 5 patients developed allograft rejection, which was managed effectively with routine steroid therapy. Notably, 4 patients demonstrated a complete pathological response. After a median post-LT follow-up of 15.5 mo (interquartile range, 8-25 mo), 2 patients experienced tumor recurrence. The 12- and 24-mo overall survival rates post-LT were 75%. Conclusions: Selected patients with advanced, initially untransplantable HCC can benefit from a multimodal approach involving LRTs combined with ICIs, enabling successful LT. These findings suggest a potential paradigm shift in the treatment of intermediate-advanced HCC, warranting further investigation in larger cohorts and longer-term studies.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.