Strategies to reinvigorate exhausted CD8 T cells in tumor microenvironment.

CD8 T cell exhaustion is a stable dysfunctional state driven by chronic antigen stimulation in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Differentiation of exhausted CD8 T cells (CD8 TEXs) is accompanied by extensive transcriptional, epigenetic and metabolic reprogramming. CD8 TEXs are mainly characterized by impaired proliferative and cytotoxic capacity as well as the increased expression of multiple co-inhibitory receptors.

Novel Prognostic Nomogram to Predict Progression-Free Survival of Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Transarterial Chemoembolization.

Purpose: A retrospective analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) to identify risk factors was conducted, and a novel predictive nomogram model was constructed.

Patients And Methods: A total of 346 HCC patients who underwent TACE as initial treatment were retrospectively included, of which 208 were randomly allocated to the derivation cohort and 138 were allocated to the validation cohort. Progression-free survival (PFS) was used as the follow-up endpoint according to mRECIST.

Fibrinogen-like protein 2 promotes proinflammatory macrophage polarization and mitochondrial dysfunction in liver fibrosis.

Fibrinogen-like protein 2 (Fgl2) robustly activates macrophages in response to infection or inflammatory cytokine challenge and is markedly increased in the liver tissues of liver cirrhosis patientswithhepatitisCvirus(HCV) infection. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the involvement of Fgl2 in macrophage function in the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that increased hepatic Fgl2 expression was associated with hepatic inflammation and high-grade liver fibrosis in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and experimental models.

Clinical features and potential mechanism of coronavirus disease 2019-associated liver injury.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has posed a serious threat to global public health security. With the increase in the number of confirmed cases globally, the World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of COVID-19 an international public health emergency. Despite atypical pneumonia as the primary symptom, liver dysfunction has also been observed in many clinical cases and is associated with the mortality risk in patients with COVID-19, like severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome.