{"title":"Macrophage hitchhiking for systematic suppression in postablative multifocal HCC.","authors":"Xuehan Li, Yan Zhang, Shun Li, Jiaqi Shi, Caiqi Liu, Xianjun Li, Yingjing Li, Shengnan Luo, Yuan Wang, Shihui Lai, Mingwei Li, Meng Zhang, Linlin Sun, Xiaoxue Du, Meng Zhou, Fan Xing, Qian Zhang, Zhiguang Wu, Tongsen Zheng","doi":"10.1097/HEP.0000000000000903","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>HCC, particularly the multifocal HCC, features aggressive invasion and dismal prognosis. Locoregional treatments were often refractory to eliminate tumor tissue, resulting in residual tumor cells persisting and subsequent progression. Owing to problematic delivery to the tumor tissue, systemic therapies, such as lenvatinib (LEN) therapy, show limited clinical benefit in preventing residual tumor progression. Therefore, more advanced strategies for postablative multifocal HCC are urgently needed.</p><p><strong>Approach and results: </strong>Motivated by the chemotaxis in tumor penetration of macrophages, we report a strategy named microinvasive ablation-guided macrophage hitchhiking for the targeted therapy toward HCC. In this study, the strategy leverages the natural inflammatory gradient induced by ablation to guide LEN-loaded macrophages toward tumor targeting, which increased by ~10-fold the delivery efficiency of LEN in postablative HCC in vivo. Microinvasive ablation-guided macrophage hitchhiking has demonstrated significant antitumor activity in various HCC models, including the hydrodynamic tail vein injection multifocal HCC mouse model and the orthotopic xenograft HCC rabbit model, systematically inhibiting residual tumor progression after ablation and prolonging the median survival of tumor-bearing mice. The potential antitumor mechanism was explored using techniques such as flow cytometry, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry. We found that the strategy significantly suppressed tumor cell proliferation and neovascularization, and such enhanced delivery of LEN stimulated systemic immune responses and induced durable immune memory.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The macrophage hitchhiking strategy demonstrates exceptional therapeutic efficacy and biosafety across various species, offering promising prospects for clinical translation in controlling residual tumor progression and improving outcomes following HCC ablation.</p>","PeriodicalId":177,"journal":{"name":"Hepatology","volume":" ","pages":"44-59"},"PeriodicalIF":12.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Hepatology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1097/HEP.0000000000000903","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/4/29 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background and aims: HCC, particularly the multifocal HCC, features aggressive invasion and dismal prognosis. Locoregional treatments were often refractory to eliminate tumor tissue, resulting in residual tumor cells persisting and subsequent progression. Owing to problematic delivery to the tumor tissue, systemic therapies, such as lenvatinib (LEN) therapy, show limited clinical benefit in preventing residual tumor progression. Therefore, more advanced strategies for postablative multifocal HCC are urgently needed.
Approach and results: Motivated by the chemotaxis in tumor penetration of macrophages, we report a strategy named microinvasive ablation-guided macrophage hitchhiking for the targeted therapy toward HCC. In this study, the strategy leverages the natural inflammatory gradient induced by ablation to guide LEN-loaded macrophages toward tumor targeting, which increased by ~10-fold the delivery efficiency of LEN in postablative HCC in vivo. Microinvasive ablation-guided macrophage hitchhiking has demonstrated significant antitumor activity in various HCC models, including the hydrodynamic tail vein injection multifocal HCC mouse model and the orthotopic xenograft HCC rabbit model, systematically inhibiting residual tumor progression after ablation and prolonging the median survival of tumor-bearing mice. The potential antitumor mechanism was explored using techniques such as flow cytometry, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry. We found that the strategy significantly suppressed tumor cell proliferation and neovascularization, and such enhanced delivery of LEN stimulated systemic immune responses and induced durable immune memory.
Conclusions: The macrophage hitchhiking strategy demonstrates exceptional therapeutic efficacy and biosafety across various species, offering promising prospects for clinical translation in controlling residual tumor progression and improving outcomes following HCC ablation.
期刊介绍:
HEPATOLOGY is recognized as the leading publication in the field of liver disease. It features original, peer-reviewed articles covering various aspects of liver structure, function, and disease. The journal's distinguished Editorial Board carefully selects the best articles each month, focusing on topics including immunology, chronic hepatitis, viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, genetic and metabolic liver diseases, liver cancer, and drug metabolism.