Circulating tumor cells participate in the formation of microvascular invasion and impact on clinical outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma

Bin Sun; Wei-Dan Ji; Wen-Chao Wang; Lei Chen; Jun-Yong Ma; Er-Jiang Tang; Mou-Bin Lin; Xiao-Feng Zhang

doi:10.3389/fgene.2023.1265866

Circulating tumor cells participate in the formation of microvascular invasion and impact on clinical outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma

Front Genet. 2023 Nov 2:14:1265866. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1265866. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Bin Sun^#¹, Wei-Dan Ji^#², Wen-Chao Wang^#³, Lei Chen³, Jun-Yong Ma⁴, Er-Jiang Tang¹, Mou-Bin Lin³, Xiao-Feng Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Center for Clinical Research and Translational Medicine, Yangpu Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Molecular Oncology, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgical Hospital and National Center for Liver Cancer, Navy Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of General Surgery, Yangpu Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Department of Hepatic Surgery, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Navy Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor worldwide. Although the treatment strategies have been improved in recent years, the long-term prognosis of HCC is far from satisfactory mainly due to high postoperative recurrence and metastasis rate. Vascular tumor thrombus, including microvascular invasion (MVI) and portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT), affects the outcome of hepatectomy and liver transplantation. If vascular invasion could be found preoperatively, especially the risk of MVI, more reasonable surgical selection will be chosen to reduce the risk of postoperative recurrence and metastasis. However, there is a lack of reliable prediction methods, and the formation mechanism of MVI/PVTT is still unclear. At present, there is no study to explore the possibility of tumor thrombus formation from a single circulating tumor cell (CTC) of HCC, nor any related study to describe the possible leading role and molecular mechanism of HCC CTCs as an important component of MVI/PVTT. In this study, we review the current understanding of MVI and possible mechanisms, discuss the function of CTCs in the formation of MVI and interaction with immune cells in the circulation. In conclusion, we discuss implications for potential therapeutic targets and the prospect of clinical treatment of HCC.

Keywords: circulating tumor cells; clinical treatment; hepatocellular carcinoma; microvascular invasion; recurrence and metastasis.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 82173212), Medical Innovation Research Special Project of Shanghai (Grant No. 22Y11908600), Shanghai Yangpu Hospital Foundation (Grant No. Ye2202202), Development Fund for Shanghai Talents (Grant No. 2020065), Shanghai Key Clinical Specialty Project (Grant No. shslczdzk02402) and Shanghai Yangpu District Science and Technology Commission (Grant No. YPM202101).