Research progress of tertiary lymphoid structure on hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华肝胆外科杂志

Tertiary lymphoid structure (TLS) is the ectopic lymphoid tissue around the chronic inflammatory site of tumor, infection diseases, autoimmunity diseases, organ transplantation and so on. TLS is regarded as the vital niche of antitumor immune response in tumor microenvironment for abundant immune cells, and is correlated with better clinical outcomes and immunotherapy response in most solid tumors. As a typical inflammation-driven cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is controversial with the influence of TLS on patients prognosis. In this paper, the composition, formation mechanism, recognition and clinical value of TLS in HCC were briefly reviewed.