Application of immune checkpoint inhibitors in liver transplantation for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

Liver transplantation, as one of the radical treatment strategies for hepatocellular carcinoma, has a good clinical effect in patients meeting the Milan criteria; however, the high recurrence rate and metastasis rate after surgery bring great challenges to the long-term survival of such patients. Therefore, how to improve long-term survival rate and reduce postoperative tumor metastasis has become a key problem that needs to be solved urgently. In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), with their good safety and objective reactivity, have provided a new opportunity for the treatment of patients with advanced liver cancer and have become potential candidates for improving the therapeutic effect of liver transplantation. At present, early clinical studies have reported the unique advantages of ICIs used alone or in combination in downstaging or bridging therapy before liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma and adjuvant therapy after liver transplantation. Therefore, this article reviews the clinical trials of ICIs in liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma and the advances in the application of ICIs in recent years and discuss its safety and efficacy, in order to provide a certain reference for clinical medication.