Approaches to spatially resolving the tumour immune microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Felix Marsh-Wakefield; Angela L Ferguson; Ken Liu; Cositha Santhakumar; Geoffrey McCaughan; Umaimainthan Palendira

doi:10.1177/17588359221113270

Approaches to spatially resolving the tumour immune microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Ther Adv Med Oncol. 2022 Jul 22:14:17588359221113270. doi: 10.1177/17588359221113270. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Felix Marsh-Wakefield¹, Angela L Ferguson², Ken Liu², Cositha Santhakumar², Geoffrey McCaughan², Umaimainthan Palendira³

Affiliations

¹ Liver Injury & Cancer Program, Centenary Institute, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Missenden Road, Sydney, NSW, 2050, Australia.
² Liver Injury & Cancer Program, Centenary Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³ Human Immunology Laboratory, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common and deadly cancer worldwide. Many factors contribute to mortality and place an individual at high risk of developing HCC, including viral infection, alcohol intake, metabolic-associated disease, autoimmunity and genetic liver disorders. Although there are many therapeutics available, much about this disease remains to be understood. This is most evident when investigating the tumour microenvironment (TME). Both innate and adaptive immune cells have been associated with carcinogenesis within the TME of HCC patients. The ability to interrogate the TME more thoroughly with spatial technologies continues to improve, both at the experimental and analytical stages. This review provides insight into technologies available to investigate the TME, and how such technologies are beneficial for improving our understanding of HCC carcinogenesis.

Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma; histopathology; immunohistochemistry; transcriptomics; tumour microenvironment.

Publication types

Review