Recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma cells with stem cell-like properties: possible targets for immunotherapy

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurs with high frequency. Characterization of recurrent HCC cells will facilitate the design of future therapeutic strategies for recurrent HCC.

Two cell lines, Hep-11 and Hep-12, were established from the same HCC patient's primary and recurrent tumor tissues, respectively, and then analyzed for stem cell-like properties, immune evasion strategies and immunogenicity.

Compared with Hep-11 cells, Hep-12 cells expressed higher levels of liver progenitor cell makers and displayed persistent tumorigenic potential in the serial transplantation assay. Although Hep-12 cells down-regulated human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I expression, they could still be recognized and killed by autologous-activated tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in vitro. Pre-treatment with cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) increased the expression of HLA class I molecules on Hep-12 cells, and rendered them more susceptible to CD8(+) T-cell-mediated recognition and TIL-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro.

Our results indicate that Hep-12 cells possess stem cell-like properties, are susceptible to autologous-activated TIL-mediated recognition and cytotoxicity, and pre-treatment with TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma enhances their immunogenicity. This is the first evidence to support the hypothesis that immunotherapy can be used to target recurrent HCC cells with stem cell-like properties. This strategy may be an effective therapeutic approach to prevent HCC recurrence and control recurrent HCC growth.