ArticleJHEP reports : innovation in hepatology2026
Fine needle aspirates characterise the hepatocellular carcinoma immune niche to predict immune checkpoint inhibitor outcomes.
Article in JHEP reports : innovation in hepatology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Circulating exhausted CD8+ effector memory cells differentiate immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced liver injury from other acute immune-mediated liver injuries.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
18 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Background & Aims: Antitumour immunity involves a complex balance of immune effectors and regulators, many of which are adapted or compartmentalised within the local microenvironment. How this influences responses to immunotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is poorly understood because of limited access to the tumour immune landscape. We postulated that fine needle aspirates (FNA) could allow for minimally invasive, in-depth tumour immune profiling in patients with advanced HCC. Methods: Patients with radiological evidence of advanced HCC were prospectively enrolled to provide matched blood, FNA (n = 29 baseline, 2 also on treatment) and biopsy (n = 20 baseline only) for Results: FNA yielded more viable leukocytes than biopsies (mean 800,000 Conclusion: FNA are suitable for rapid, comprehensive sampling of HCC prior to and during immunotherapy, revealing features of the tissue-resident tumour immune niche that cannot be predicted from blood. These features have the capacity to predict clinical outcomes. Impact and implications: This study addresses the need for simple and minimally invasive assessment of the tumour immune microenvironment in hepatocellular carcinoma, revealing key compartmentalised immunotherapy targets that are not predictable from blood. Findings are important for researchers, clinicians and patients to guide personalised immune checkpoint inhibitor selection and the development of novel approaches to block immunosuppressive neutrophils in order to improve on limited responses to current hepatocellular carcinoma therapies. We demonstrate the potential of rapid fine needle aspirate-based immune profiling to be integrated into larger studies, including clinical trials, to guide personalised selection of patients for existing and future immune checkpoint inhibitors, provide insights into mechanisms of primary and secondary resistance, and inform the development of novel immunotherapy targets.
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