TY - JOUR T1 - Multidimensional analyses reveal distinct immune microenvironment in hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma JF - Gut JO - Gut SP - 916 LP - 927 DO - 10.1136/gutjnl-2018-316510 VL - 68 IS - 5 AU - Chun Jye Lim AU - Yun Hua Lee AU - Lu Pan AU - Liyun Lai AU - Camillus Chua AU - Martin Wasser AU - Tony Kiat Hon Lim AU - Joe Yeong AU - Han Chong Toh AU - Ser Yee Lee AU - Chung Yip Chan AU - Brian KP Goh AU - Alexander Chung AU - Mathias Heikenwälder AU - Irene OL Ng AU - Pierce Chow AU - Salvatore Albani AU - Valerie Chew Y1 - 2019/05/01 UR - http://gut.bmj.com/content/68/5/916.abstract N2 - Background and aims Chronic inflammation induced by chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection increases the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, little is known about the immune landscape of HBV-related HCC and its influence on the design of effective cancer immunotherapeutics.Methods We interrogated the immune microenvironments of HBV-related HCC and non-viral-related HCC using immunohistochemistry and cytometry by time-of-flight (CyTOF). On identifying unique immune subsets enriched in HBV-related HCC, we further interrogated their phenotypes and functions using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and in vitro T-cell proliferation assays.Results In-depth interrogation of the immune landscapes showed that regulatory T cells (TREG) and CD8+ resident memory T cells (TRM) were enriched in HBV-related HCC, whereas Tim-3+CD8+ T cells and CD244+ natural killer cells were enriched in non-viral-related HCC. NGS of isolated TREG and TRM from HBV-related HCC and non-viral-related HCC identified distinct functional signatures associated with T-cell receptor signalling, T-cell costimulation, antigen presentation and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) signalling. TREG and TRM from HBV-related HCC expressed more PD-1 and were functionally more suppressive and exhausted than those from non-virus-related HCC. Furthermore, immunosuppression by PD-1+ TREG could be reversed with anti-PD-1 blockade. Using multiplexed tissue immunofluorescence, we further demonstrated that TREG and TRM contributed to overall patient survival: TREG were associated with a poor prognosis and TRM were associated with a good prognosis in HCC.Conclusion We have shown that the HBV-related HCC microenvironment is more immunosuppressive and exhausted than the non-viral-related HCC microenvironment. Such in-depth understanding has important implications in disease management and appropriate application of immunotherapeutics. ER -