AI Article Synopsis

  • Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can be caused by factors such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is linked to an accumulation of inactive immune cells in the liver.
  • Immunotherapy targeting PD1 has been approved for HCC but doesn't effectively improve patient outcomes, particularly in those with NASH-HCC, as it may worsen the disease instead of helping.
  • Research suggests that CD8 T cells contribute to the development of NASH-HCC rather than supporting immune defense, indicating a need for better patient stratification based on the underlying causes of HCC.

Article Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can have viral or non-viral causes. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is an important driver of HCC. Immunotherapy has been approved for treating HCC, but biomarker-based stratification of patients for optimal response to therapy is an unmet need. Here we report the progressive accumulation of exhausted, unconventionally activated CD8PD1 T cells in NASH-affected livers. In preclinical models of NASH-induced HCC, therapeutic immunotherapy targeted at programmed death-1 (PD1) expanded activated CD8PD1 T cells within tumours but did not lead to tumour regression, which indicates that tumour immune surveillance was impaired. When given prophylactically, anti-PD1 treatment led to an increase in the incidence of NASH-HCC and in the number and size of tumour nodules, which correlated with increased hepatic CD8PD1CXCR6, TOX, and TNF T cells. The increase in HCC triggered by anti-PD1 treatment was prevented by depletion of CD8 T cells or TNF neutralization, suggesting that CD8 T cells help to induce NASH-HCC, rather than invigorating or executing immune surveillance. We found similar phenotypic and functional profiles in hepatic CD8PD1 T cells from humans with NAFLD or NASH. A meta-analysis of three randomized phase III clinical trials that tested inhibitors of PDL1 (programmed death-ligand 1) or PD1 in more than 1,600 patients with advanced HCC revealed that immune therapy did not improve survival in patients with non-viral HCC. In two additional cohorts, patients with NASH-driven HCC who received anti-PD1 or anti-PDL1 treatment showed reduced overall survival compared to patients with other aetiologies. Collectively, these data show that non-viral HCC, and particularly NASH-HCC, might be less responsive to immunotherapy, probably owing to NASH-related aberrant T cell activation causing tissue damage that leads to impaired immune surveillance. Our data provide a rationale for stratification of patients with HCC according to underlying aetiology in studies of immunotherapy as a primary or adjuvant treatment.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8046670PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03362-0DOI Listing

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