About this Research Topic

Background

Important strides have recently been made in both liver transplantation and cancer immunotherapy for the treatment of primary hepatocellular carcinoma as well as other solid malignancies that metastasize to the liver. Unfortunately, the prevailing view is that both treatment modalities are mutually incompatible. This is because the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors just before or after liver transplant is believed to increase the risk of feared complications such as liver graft rejection. At the same time, the use of immunosuppressive protocols in liver transplant recipients may also suppress the antitumor efficacy of immune checkpoint blockers. Hence, this creates clinical quandaries regarding the optimal algorithm for treating patients with liver malignancies who can be considered candidates for either liver transplant or immunotherapy, and for previous liver transplant recipients who develop intrahepatic recurrence.

This special collection will publish articles related to the surgical and/or immuno-oncological aspects of liver transplant. These may include, but are not limited to:
· Original research, case reports, and reviews of the current clinical outcomes of anticancer immunotherapy in patients pre- and post-liver transplant
· Clinical research regarding any surgical or medical aspect of liver transplantation for liver malignancies, ideally substantiated by comparative statistics
· Translational and basic research that expose the immunological crosstalk involved in antitumor immunity of liver malignancies as well as the immunosuppressive processes that prevent allorejection

The topic editors are also keen to publish:
· Reviews, perspectives, expert opinions, and clinical vignettes on the above mentioned topics
· Clinical guidelines proposing innovative and rational treatment algorithms that take into account the role(s) of liver transplantation and cancer immunotherapy
· Essays proposing ethical frameworks for weighing the risks and benefits, and clarifying if and when there may be equipoise, for using cancer immunotherapies in liver transplant recipients or candidates
· New surgical techniques and medical algorithms to improve outcomes in liver transplant recipients and donors

Keywords: Liver cancer, transplant, immunotherapy, recurrence, immunosuppression, rejection, microbiota

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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