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Volume 42 Issue 5
May  2026
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Article Navigation >  Journal of Clinical Hepatology  > 2026  >  42(5): 1198-1203

The dual regulatory effect of locoregional therapy on the tumor immune microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma： Mechanisms and combined treatment strategies

DOI: 10.12449/JCH260529
  • 1.

    The Second Clinical College of China Medical University，Shenyang 110122，China

  • 2.

    Department of Interventional Radiology，Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University，Shenyang 110004，China

Research funding:

National Natural Science Foundation of China (82202280)

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  • Corresponding author: ZHANG Liou， zhangliou1@163.com （ORCID： 0009-0009-8666-7861）
  • Received Date: 2025-09-29
  • Accepted Date: 2025-12-10
  • Published Date: 2026-05-25
    Abstract
  • Locoregional therapy （LRT）， including transarterial chemoembolization， transarterial radioembolization， and various ablation techniques， is an important treatment method for hepatocellular carcinoma. Many studies in recent years have confirmed that LRT has a dual regulatory effect on tumor immune microenvironment. While LRT induces immunogenic cell death， activates dendritic cell-mediated and T cell-driven immunity， and triggers systemic antitumor responses， it concomitantly upregulates the adenosine signaling pathway， promotes the accumulation of TREM2+ macrophages， and enhances the expression of immunosuppressive factors， thereby forming an immunosuppressive microenvironment. At present， the combination of LRT and immune checkpoint inhibitors has shown a promising future and has promoted the exploration of novel targets within treatment-associated immunosuppressive pathways， such as adenosine， TREM2⁺ macrophages， and IL-6. This article summarizes the dual regulatory effect of LRT on immune microenvironment and highlights that multi-omics techniques and clinical trials should be used in the future to decipher its dynamic alterations， in order to optimize combination strategies， realize individualized precise treatment， and improve the prognosis of patients.

     

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