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Lee. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2017;3:244-9 Journal of
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2017.48
Cancer Metastasis and Treatment

www.jcmtjournal.com
Topic: Cancer Immunotherapy Open Access

Cell-mediated immunotherapy for

hepatocellular carcinoma

Wei-Chen Lee

Division of Liver and Transplantation Surgery, Department of General Surgery, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang-Gung University College of
Medicine, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.

Correspondence to: Dr. Wei-Chen Lee, Division of Liver and Transplantation Surgery, Department of General Surgery, Chang-Gung Memorial
Hospital, Chang-Gung University College of Medicine, 5, Fu-Hsing Street, Kwei-Shan, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan. E-mail: weichen@cgmh.org.tw

How to cite this article: Lee WC. Cell-mediated immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2017;3:244-9.
ABSTRACT
Article history: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer. Most of the
Received: 27 Jul 2017 time, these tumors are diagnosed at late stages. Because no effective treatments exist for
Accepted: 18 Oct 2017 patients with advanced stage HCC, there is an urgent need for novel, effective treatments.
Published: 31 Oct 2017 Cancer cells originate as a consequence of abnormal expression of oncogenes or loss
of tumor suppressor genes. Often, neoplastic transformation results in a hyper-mutated
Key words: cellular genome, which in turn produces neo-antigens from mutated genes. These tumor-
Hepatocellular carcinoma, specific or tumor-associated antigens can be recognized by antigen-presenting cells
dendritic cell, and trigger T-lymphocytes to elicit anticancer immunity. Immune responses to cancers
immunotherapy
are often rendered ineffective by tumor immune-editing and immune-suppressive
mechanisms. Yet, therapeutic strategies to stimulate anti-cancer immunity have had
remarkable success in several solid and hematological malignancies. Among the various
strategies for cancer immunotherapy, cell-mediated immunotherapy holds considerable
promise to overcome anergy and systemic immune suppression. This brief review will
focus on cell-mediated immunotherapy for HCC.

INTRODUCTION transplantation, liver resection, and radiofrequency
ablation (RFA) in the very early and early stages of
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most the disease [12] . Even when tumors are completely
common malignancy in the world . The treatment removed by liver resection and liver transplantation, or
[1]
modalities for HCC included liver transplantation [2,3] , by complete ablation by RFA, tumor recurrence is still
liver resection , local ablation , transcatheter arterial not preventable. When tumors are in the intermediate
[4]
[5]
chemoembolization (TACE) [6,7] , molecular target stage, they can only be controlled by TACE. When
therapy [8,9] , radiotherapy [10] , chemotherapy [11] , and tumors are in more advanced stages, patients can only
so on. According to Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer be treated by molecular target therapy or supported by
(BCLC) classification, HCC can only be cured by liver best care. There are as yet no effective treatments for

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