REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Hepato Pancreatic Biliary Cancers
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1629479
This article is part of the Research TopicGut Microbiota and Local Immune System in Colorectal and Liver CancerView all 7 articles
Decoding the Microbial-Local Immune Dialogue in Liver Cancer: From Ecological Drivers to Precision Therapeutics
Provisionally accepted
- The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
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The global incidence and mortality rates of liver cancer remain persistently high, attributable to its multifaceted etiology. Recent research has increasingly focused on the interaction between gut microbiota and the liver's immune system. The gut-liver axis, which connects the gut and liver via the portal vein system and biliary tract, is crucial in maintaining homeostasis; however, dysbiosis can compromise the gut's barrier function. The gut microbiota exerts influence over hepatic immune cells through various mechanisms, including alterations in microbial composition, production of metabolic products, and the presence of pathogen-associated molecular patterns. These interactions contribute to immune evasion, inflammation, and remodeling of the tumor microenvironment in liver cancer, thereby affecting the efficacy of immunotherapy. Despite these insights, the precise mechanisms underlying these interactions and their potential clinical applications remain inadequately understood. This article aims to review the mechanisms of interaction between the gut microbiota and the local immune response in liver cancer, integrating the latest research advancements. Additionally, it will explore the impact of these interactions on the tumor immune microenvironment, with the objective of providing a theoretical foundation and potential strategies for prevention and therapeutic intervention.
Keywords: Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Gut Microbiota, the gut-liver axis, Local immune response, the immunemicroenvironment, Immune Modulation
Received: 15 May 2025; Accepted: 29 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Xu, Wen and Gao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shu Liu, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
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