Strategies for Liver Transplantation in Liver Cancers

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Research of Cancer".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2022) | Viewed by 6503

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Dipartimento di scienze mediche e chirurgiche, Chirurgia Generale e del Trapianto di Fegato, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Roma, Italy
Interests: Liver transplantation; hepatocellular carcinoma; cholangiocarcinoma; liver metastasis; donor–recipient match in liver transplantation; early graft failure after liver transplantation; immunosuppression in the liver transplanted patient
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Special Issue Information

Indications for liver transplantation (LT) are changing. Until now, patients with post-hepatitis C (HCV) constituted more than a third of LT cases. Today, only a minority of HCV patients are listed for transplantation. In fact, direct-acting antiviral treatments are highly efficacious in preventing HCV-related liver disease progression. Likewise, the number of candidates with neoplastic disease is progressively expanding, thanks to the implementation of donation after cardiac death and the widespread use of perfusion machines, which can rescue grafts from high-risk fatty donors. Moreover, the practice of living donor transplantation is progressively spreading.

We are adopting a less restrictive approach to list hepatocellular carcinoma patients (patients with a higher tumor burden), while offering LT to patients with unresectable metastases from colorectal adenocarcinomas, or unresectable hilar cholangiocarcinoma. Actually, knowledge in these settings is limited and well-designed studies are highly needed.

In this Special Issue of Cancers, experts in novel indications for LT, either in primary or secondary liver cancers, will summarize current approaches. 

Prof. Alfonso W. Avolio
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Liver transplantation
  • Hepatocellular carcinoma
  • Hilar cholangiocarcinoma
  • Liver Metastases from colorectal adenocarcinomas

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 1120 KiB  
Article
Liver Transplantation for Unresectable Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma: The Role of Sequencing Genetic Profiling
by Salvatore Gruttadauria, Floriana Barbera, Duilio Pagano, Rosa Liotta, Roberto Miraglia, Marco Barbara, Maria Grazia Bavetta, Calogero Cammà, Ioannis Petridis, Daniele Di Carlo, Pier Giulio Conaldi and Fabrizio Di Francesco
Cancers 2021, 13(23), 6049; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13236049 - 1 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2387
Abstract
Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) is a rare and aggressive primary liver tumor, characterized by a range of different clinical manifestations and by increasing incidence and mortality rates even after curative treatment with radical resection. In recent years, growing attention has been devoted to this [...] Read more.
Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) is a rare and aggressive primary liver tumor, characterized by a range of different clinical manifestations and by increasing incidence and mortality rates even after curative treatment with radical resection. In recent years, growing attention has been devoted to this disease and some evidence supports liver transplantation (LT) as an appropriate treatment for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; evolving work has also provided a framework for better understanding the genetic basis of this cancer. The aim of this study was to provide a clinical description of our series of patients complemented with Next-Generation Sequencing genomic profiling. From 1999 to 2021, 12 patients who underwent LT with either iCCA or a combined hepatocellular and cholangiocellular carcinoma (HCC-iCCA) were included in this study. Mutations were observed in gene activating signaling pathways known to be involved with iCCA tumorigenesis (KRAS/MAPK, P53, PI3K-Akt/mTOR, cAMP, WNT, epigenetic regulation and chromatin remodeling). Among several others, a strong association was observed between the Notch pathway and tumor size (point-biserial rhopb = 0.93). Our results are suggestive of the benefit potentially derived from molecular analysis to improve our diagnostic capabilities and to devise new treatment protocols, and eventually ameliorate long-term survival of patients affected by iCCA or HCC-iCCA. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies for Liver Transplantation in Liver Cancers)
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32 pages, 452 KiB  
Review
Management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence after Liver Transplantation
by Filippo Pelizzaro, Martina Gambato, Enrico Gringeri, Alessandro Vitale, Umberto Cillo, Fabio Farinati, Patrizia Burra and Francesco Paolo Russo
Cancers 2021, 13(19), 4882; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13194882 - 29 Sep 2021
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 3476
Abstract
Recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver transplantation (LT), occurring in 10–15% of cases, is a major concern. A lot of work has been done in order to refine the selection of LT candidates with HCC and to improve the outcome of patients [...] Read more.
Recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver transplantation (LT), occurring in 10–15% of cases, is a major concern. A lot of work has been done in order to refine the selection of LT candidates with HCC and to improve the outcome of patients with recurrence. Despite this, the prognosis of these patients remains poor, partly due to the several areas of uncertainty in their management. Even if surveillance for HCC recurrence is crucial for early detection, there is currently no evidence to support a specific and cost-effective post-LT surveillance strategy. Concerning preventive measures, consensus on the best immunosuppressive drugs has not been reached and not enough data to support adjuvant therapy are present. Several therapeutic approaches (surgical, locoregional and systemic treatments) are available in case of recurrence, but there are still few data in the post-LT setting. Moreover, the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors is controversial in transplant recipients considered the risk of rejection. In this paper, the available evidence on the management of HCC recurrence after LT is comprehensively reviewed, considering pre- and post-transplant risk stratification, post-transplant surveillance, preventive strategies and treatment options. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies for Liver Transplantation in Liver Cancers)
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