Short-term prognosis of recipients with pretransplant exposure to immune checkpoint inhibitors after liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: A retrospective cohort study

作者：Li Pang, Lei‐Bo Xu, Zhijun Chen, Liu Yang, Tao Ding, Yan‐Fang Ye, Xinjun Lu, Guangxiang Gu, Haoming Lin, Wenrui Wu, Kwan Man, Chao Liu · 发表于：Liver Research · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.livres.2025.03.001 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers、Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment and Prognosis、Inflammatory Biomarkers in Disease Prognosis

Despite increased evidence linking pretransplant exposure to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) to increased allograft rejection risk after liver transplantation (LT), a lack of comparative studies to definitively establish the correlation between ICI exposure and adverse short-term outcomes after LT exists. This study aimed to analyze the impact of preoperative ICI exposure on short-term post-LT prognosis and allograft rejection risk. This retrospective cohort study included 121 recipients who underwent LT for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) between June 2019 and March 2023. The recipients were categorized into ICI ( n = 35) and non-ICI ( n = 86) exposure groups based on pretransplant ICI exposure. Demographics, clinical characteristics, and short-term outcomes were compared between the cohorts. Kaplan-Meier analysis evaluated the impact of ICI exposure on graft survival. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models assessed the impact of patient characteristics on allograft rejection. Recipients with or without ICI exposure exhibited comparable demographic baseline characteristics. The incidences of early allograft dysfunction and biliary and vascular complications were similar between both groups. Post-transplant infection incidence was 37.1% and 20.9% in the ICI and non-ICI groups, respectively ( P = 0.064). Allograft rejection rates were significantly higher in the ICI group than in the non-ICI group (22.9% vs. 5.8%, P = 0.015). The ICI group exhibited a higher...