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Lo. Hepatoma Res 2019;5:41 I http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-5079.2019.021 Page 5 of 7

In addition, lymphocyte-rich HCC may represent a subtype showing relatively favorable response to
immunotherapy. SH-HCC may represent a spectrum of HCC arising from specific etiology. Further
delineation of the genetic and genomic signatures of FLC and cHCC-CCA may provide insights on the cell
of origin and pathogenesis of primary liver cancer.

Apart from defining specific subtypes, some histological features in HCC were found to be closely related
to certain genetic alterations. For instance, well differentiated tumors with pseudoacinar pattern, tumor cell
[63]
cholestasis and lack of immune cell infiltration were associated with CTNNB1 mutations [8,62] . Calderaro et al.
summarized a histological-molecular correlation of liver cancer. In this review, the molecular subclasses [9,18] and
genetic alterations of histological subtypes including MTM-HCC, SH-HCC, scirrhous HCC, lymphocyte-
rich HCC were discussed. Besides, the immune microenvironment of 158 HCC cases was recently
[64]
characterized by Kurebayashi et al. using multiplex immunohistochemistry. The accumulating body of
information, together with integrated analyses of the expression profiles of HCC at transcriptomic, genomic
and proteomic levels may facilitate formulating a classification system of clinical relevance.

DECLARATIONS
Authors’ contributions
The author contributed solely to the article.

Availability of data and materials
Not applicable.

Financial support and sponsorship
Clinical Research Fellowship Scheme (General Research Fund:17126216), Research Grants Council, Hong
Kong.

Conflicts of interest
The author declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.

Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019.

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