Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Transplant. Jun 18, 2025; 15(2): 98509
Published online Jun 18, 2025. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v15.i2.98509
Immunotherapy and liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: Current and future challenges
Theodoros Pettas, Sofia Lachanoudi, Filippos F Karageorgos, Ioannis A Ziogas, Asimina Fylaktou, Vassilios Papalois, Georgios Katsanos, Nikolaos Antoniadis, Georgios Tsoulfas
Theodoros Pettas, Sofia Lachanoudi, Filippos F Karageorgos, Nikolaos Antoniadis, Department of Transplantation Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation, Aristotle University School of Medicine, Thessaloniki 54642, Greece
Ioannis A Ziogas, Department of Surgery, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80045, United States
Asimina Fylaktou, Department of Immunology, National Peripheral Histocompatibility Center, Hippokration General Hospital, Thessaloniki 54642, Greece
Vassilios Papalois, Department of Transplant Surgery, Imperial College Renal and Transplant Centre, London W12 0HS, United Kingdom
Georgios Katsanos, Georgios Tsoulfas, Department of Transplantation Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Medicine, Thessaloniki 54642, Greece
Co-first authors: Theodoros Pettas and Sofia Lachanoudi.
Author contributions: Pettas T, Lachanoudi S, and Tsoulfas G performed the conceptualization; Pettas T, Lachanoudi S, Karageorgos FF, Ziogas IA, Fylaktou A, Papalois V, Katsanos G, Antoniadis N, and Tsoulfas G contributed to resources; Pettas T and Lachanoudi S contributed to data curation and wrote the original draft; Pettas T, Lachanoudi S, Karageorgos FF, and Tsoulfas G wrote and edited the review; Tsoulfas G supervised. Pettas T and Lachanoudi S contributed equally to the writing of this manuscript. Each co-first author was significantly involved in the study’s design, data acquisition and analysis, and the development of the manuscript text.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Georgios Tsoulfas, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Transplantation Surgery, Center for Research and Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Medicine, 49 Konstantinoupoleos Street, Thessaloniki 54642, Greece. tsoulfasg@gmail.com
Received: June 27, 2024
Revised: October 3, 2024
Accepted: November 7, 2024
Published online: June 18, 2025
Processing time: 238 Days and 19.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Hepatocellular carcinoma is a prevalent condition nowadays. The increasing number of new cases worldwide requires intensive research and innovative curative options. Cancer immunotherapy constitutes a constantly growing field in terms of disease treatment, as well as potential tumor downstaging with an eye to liver transplantation. There are two approaches regarding immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: boosting the existing immune response and stimulating a de novo immune response.