Zhang YZ, Tang YZ, He YX, Pan ST, Dai HC, Liu Y, Zhou HF. Multimodal clinical parameters-based immune status associated with the prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; 18(1): 112896 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v18.i1.112896]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Hai-Feng Zhou, MD, PhD, Department of Interventional Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, No. 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China. hfzhou_ir@sina.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Jan 15, 2026 (publication date) through Jan 12, 2026
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Journal Information of This Article
Publication Name
World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology
ISSN
1948-5204
Publisher of This Article
Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Zhang YZ, Tang YZ, He YX, Pan ST, Dai HC, Liu Y, Zhou HF. Multimodal clinical parameters-based immune status associated with the prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; 18(1): 112896 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v18.i1.112896]
Yu-Zhou Zhang, Yuan-Ze Tang, Yun-Xuan He, Shu-Tong Pan, Hao-Cheng Dai, School of Medical Imaging, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, Jiangsu Province, China
Yu Liu, Department of Radiology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210009, Jiangsu Province, China
Hai-Feng Zhou, Department of Interventional Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China
Co-first authors: Yu-Zhou Zhang and Yuan-Ze Tang.
Co-corresponding authors: Yu Liu and Hai-Feng Zhou.
Author contributions: Zhang YZ and Tang YZ contributed equally as co-first authors; Zhou HF and Liu Y performed conceptualization and made equal contributions as co-corresponding authors; Zhang YZ, Tang YZ, He YX, Pan ST, and Dai HC performed data curation and wrote original draft; all authors did writing-review and editing, and approved the final version to publish.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All 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: Hai-Feng Zhou, MD, PhD, Department of Interventional Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, No. 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China. hfzhou_ir@sina.com
Received: August 13, 2025 Revised: October 27, 2025 Accepted: November 28, 2025 Published online: January 15, 2026 Processing time: 152 Days and 7.4 Hours
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma presents with three distinct immune phenotypes, including immune-desert, immune-excluded, and immune-inflamed, indicating various treatment responses and prognostic outcomes. The clinical application of multi-omics parameters is still restricted by the expensive and less accessible assays, although they accurately reflect immune status. A comprehensive evaluation framework based on “easy-to-obtain” multi-model clinical parameters is urgently required, incorporating clinical features to establish baseline patient profiles and disease staging; routine blood tests assessing systemic metabolic and functional status; immune cell subsets quantifying subcluster dynamics; imaging features delineating tumor morphology, spatial configuration, and perilesional anatomical relationships; immunohistochemical markers positioning qualitative and quantitative detection of tumor antigens from the cellular and molecular level. This integrated phenomic approach aims to improve prognostic stratification and clinical decision-making in hepatocellular carcinoma management conveniently and practically.
Core Tip: The immune status of hepatocellular carcinoma patients can be comprehensively assessed using multimodal phenomics analyses, which include clinical features to provide general patient information, routine blood tests to evaluate metabolism and function, immune cell subsets to analyze immune system composition, imaging to visualize tumor morphology and anatomical relationships, and immunohistochemical markers to detect antigens in tumor tissue. By integrating these parameters through multimodal phenomics analyses, we aim to enhance the evaluation of prognosis and clinical outcomes for hepatocellular carcinoma patients.
