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Comprehensive analysis of immune subtype characterization on identification of potential cells and drugs to predict response to immune checkpoint inhibitors for hepatocellular carcinoma

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Comprehensive analysis of immune subtype characterization on identification of potential cells and drugs to predict response to immune checkpoint inhibitors for hepatocellular carcinoma

Lai Guichuan
Xie Biao
Zhang Cong
Zhong Xiaoni
Deng Jielian
Li Kangjie
Liu Hui
Zhang Yuan
Liu Anbin
Liu Yi
Fan Jie
Zhou Tianyi
Wang Wei
Huang Ailong
Genes & Diseases第12卷, 第3期纸质出版 2025-05-01在线发表 2024-11-27
1900

Immunosubtyping enables the segregation of immune responders from non-responders. However, numerous studies failed to focus on the integration of cellular heterogeneity and immunophenotyping in the prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients' response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). We categorized HCC patients into various immune subtypes based on feature scores linked to ICI response. Single-cell sequencing technology was to investigate the cellular heterogeneity of different immune subtypes and acquire significant ICI response-associated cells. Candidate drugs were identified using a blend of various drug databases and network approaches. HCC patients were divided into two distinct immune subtypes based on characterization scores of 151 immune-related gene sets. Patients in both subtypes showed varying overall survival, immunity levels, biological activities, and TP53 mutation rates. Subtype 1-related natural killer cells showed a positive correlation with immune-promoting scores but a negative correlation with immune-suppressing scores. Notably, docetaxel sensitivity in HCC patients rose as the levels of subtype 1-related natural killer cells increased. Our study demonstrated that immune subtypes have cellular heterogeneity in predicting response to ICIs. A combination of subtype 1-associated natural killer cells and docetaxel may offer new hope for ICI treatment in HCC.

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Cellular heterogeneityDrug predictionHepatocellular carcinomaImmune checkpoint inhibitorsImmunosubtyping