Molecular Signature and Immune Landscape of HCV-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC): Differences and Similarities with HBV-HCC

Davide De Battista; Fausto Zamboni; Hannah Gerstein; Shinya Sato; Tovah E Markowitz; Justin Lack; Ronald E Engle; Patrizia Farci

doi:10.2147/JHC.S325959

Molecular Signature and Immune Landscape of HCV-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC): Differences and Similarities with HBV-HCC

J Hepatocell Carcinoma. 2021 Nov 21:8:1399-1413. doi: 10.2147/JHC.S325959. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Davide De Battista¹, Fausto Zamboni², Hannah Gerstein¹, Shinya Sato¹, Tovah E Markowitz^{3

4}, Justin Lack^{3

4}, Ronald E Engle¹, Patrizia Farci¹

Affiliations

¹ Hepatic Pathogenesis Section, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
² Liver Transplantation Center, Azienda Ospedaliera Brotzu, Cagliari, Italy.
³ NIAID Collaborative Bioinformatics Resource, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
⁴ Advanced Biomedical Computational Science, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research Sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA.

Abstract

Introduction: HCC is the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, with chronic viral hepatitis accounting for more than 70% of the cases. Therapeutic options are limited and ineffective. The increasing use of immune-based therapies in solid tumors highlights the need to expand our knowledge on the immunologic microenvironment of HCC.

Methods: Access to liver samples from 20 well-characterized patients with HCC associated with HCV (n = 9) or HBV (n = 11) gave us the opportunity to study the immunologic landscape in these tumors. For each patient, RNA-sequencing was performed on the tumor and surrounding nontumorous tissue.

Results: We found that both HCV- and HBV-HCC are associated with a predominance of downregulated genes (74% and 67%, respectively). Analysis of the immune landscape using a curated gene list showed 216 of 2481 (9%) immune genes in HCV-HCC and 164 of 2560 (6%) in HBV-HCC. However, only 8 immune genes (4%) were upregulated in HCV-HCC and 27 (16.5%) in HBV-HCC. HCV-HCC was characterized by an enrichment of downregulated genes related to T-cell activation and oxidative stress. The dramatic downregulation of immune genes related to T-cell activation in HCV-HCC prompted us to perform an extensive immunohistochemistry analysis on paraffin-embedded liver specimen. Interestingly, we found a significant reduction of immune-cell infiltration (CD3, CD8 and CD20 positive cells) within the tumor. Moreover, we observed that HCV-HCC is characterized by an enrichment of M2-like CD68-positive cells. These data are consistent with the dramatic downregulation of immune-cell infiltration seen in HCV-HCC. Conversely, HBV-HCC was characterized by upregulation of genes related to monocyte/macrophage activation and cell cycle control, and downregulation of genes involved in various cell metabolisms.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates a distinctive molecular signature and immune landscape in HCC of different viral etiology, which could provide new insights into pathogenesis and lead to the development of novel immune-based therapies.

Keywords: RNA-sequencing; hepatitis B virus; hepatitis C virus; hepatocellular carcinoma; immune landscape; molecular signature.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.