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Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Clinical Evidence and Emerging Therapeutic Benefits

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 1116

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Transplantation Division, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Bergamo, Italy
Interests: HCC; HBV; HDV; liver transplantation; transplant oncology; portal hypertension

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, the management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has changed, mainly due to the introduction of immunotherapies, but also due to different patient selection and the possibility of stage migration. However, although patient selection, nutritional aspects, portal hypertension characteristics and multidisciplinary approaches have identified patients with better outcomes, several subjects are resistant to treatment. The aim of this special issue is to understand the mechanisms of treatment resistance and explore new options, also with the use of artificial intelligence, to provide opportunities for effective disease management. This special issue is open to reviews and original research articles by 30 June 2026.

Dr. Alessandro Loglio
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • artificial intelligence
  • downstaging
  • immunotherapy
  • multidisciplinary approaches
  • risk factors
  • nutrition

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 605 KB  
Article
RETREAT Score Accurately Predicts the Long-Term Risk of HCC Recurrence After Liver Transplantation: A Single-Center Real-Life Validation
by Flavia Neri, Mauro Viganò, Stefania Camagni, Marco Fabrizio Zambelli, Alessandro Loglio, Massimo De Giorgio, Riccardo Muglia, Lisa Licini, Andrea Francavilla, Paolo Marra, Sandro Sironi, Paola Anna Erba, Irene Gotuzzo, Andrea Gianatti, Stefano Fagiuoli and Domenico Pinelli
Cancers 2026, 18(4), 556; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers18040556 - 9 Feb 2026
Viewed by 765
Abstract
Background: Liver transplantation (LT) for Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still burdened by a significant risk of tumor recurrence. The aim of this study was to apply the Risk Estimation of Tumor Recurrence After Transplant (RETREAT) score for prediction of HCC recurrence and survival. [...] Read more.
Background: Liver transplantation (LT) for Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still burdened by a significant risk of tumor recurrence. The aim of this study was to apply the Risk Estimation of Tumor Recurrence After Transplant (RETREAT) score for prediction of HCC recurrence and survival. Methods: This retrospective study included all adult patients who consecutively underwent LT for HCC from January 2000 to July 2022 at a single institution. Results: During a median follow-up of 64 months, 56 (19%) out of 298 patients [54%, 36% and 10% with a RETREAT score equal to 0/1 (low), 2/3 (medium) and 4–6 (high), respectively] experienced HCC recurrence after a median of 31 months. The HCC recurrence rates at 1, 5 and 10 years were respectively 4%, 16% and 23%. The 5-year RFS for low-, medium- and high-risk groups were 93%, 78% and 58% (p < 0.001), respectively. In the competitive risk analysis, the medium- and high-risk RETREAT groups had respectively a 2.3 HR (p = 0.017) and 6.4 HR (p < 0.001) of HCC recurrence compared with the low-risk group. Overall, 119 patients died [32 (27%) due to HCC recurrence], and the 5-year survival was 74% (95%, 86% and 61% for low-, medium- and high-risk groups, respectively). In the multivariate analysis, the RETREAT score was associated with the overall survival only for the highest risk class, which yielded a 2.5 HR of death compared with the lowest risk categories (p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study validates the RETREAT score and confirms its ability to predict the risk of HCC recurrence. Full article
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