{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,8]],"date-time":"2026-03-08T01:01:51Z","timestamp":1772931711637,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":107,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,3,19]],"date-time":"2019-03-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1552953600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) often develops on a background of chronic inflammation and a complex immunosuppressive network with increased regulatory T cells, impaired CD8+ T cells and the secretion of immunosuppressive cytokines. Previous clinical studies have reported a superior disease-free survival (DFS) following a radiofrequency-based ablation or resection in HCC tumours compared to conventional liver resection techniques. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is any correlation with the use of a radiofrequency-assisted liver resection and clinical outcome. Material and Methods: Patients\u2019 peripheral blood was collected prior and 7 days following surgery from patients undergoing a liver resection for HCC. There were 5 liver resections performed using CUSA and 6 liver resections with the RF-based device, HabibTM 4X. The primary endpoint of the study was to assess the immunological parameters of circulating immune cell populations as well as serum cytokines. The Student\u2019s t-test, chi-square or Fisher\u2019s Exact test were applied for statistical comparisons, as appropriate. Results: Patients undergoing an RF-assisted liver resection with HabibTM 4X had a significant decrease in the inhibitory Treg cells (p = 0.002) and a significant increase in CD8+ T lymphocytes (p = 0.050) and CD4+CD45RO+\/CD4+ memory T cells (p = 0.002) compared to those patients undergoing a liver resection with CUSA. It was also noted that the RF-assisted liver resection group had a significant decrease in circulating TGF-\u00df (p = 0.000), IL10 (p = 0.000) and a significant increase in IFN-gamma (p = 0. 027) and IL-17 compared to the CUSA group. Conclusion: A liver resection with RF-based device HabibTM 4X was associated with positive immunomodulatory changes in circulating immune cells and circulating cytokines which could explain the significant improvement in DFS.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm8030385","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,3,19]],"date-time":"2019-03-19T12:12:25Z","timestamp":1552997545000},"page":"385","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":26,"title":["Positive Immuno-Modulation Following Radiofrequency Assisted Liver Resection in Hepatocellular Carcinoma"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6375-8714","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kai Wen","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery &amp; Hepatitis Research Center, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 10051, Taiwan"},{"name":"Centre of Mini-invasive Interventional Oncology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 10051, Taiwan"},{"name":"Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0490-7323","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kumar","family":"Jayant","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK"},{"name":"Department of Renal Transplant Surgery, Royal Free Hospital, London NW3 2QG, UK"},{"name":"Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7HL, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Po-Huang","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery &amp; Hepatitis Research Center, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 10051, Taiwan"},{"name":"Centre of Mini-invasive Interventional Oncology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 10051, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5828-8615","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Po-chih","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10051, Taiwan"},{"name":"Center for Organ Transplantation and Liver Disease Treatment, Fu Jen Catholic University Hospital, New Taipei City 24352, Taiwan"},{"name":"School of Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 24352, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chih-Yang","family":"Hsiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery &amp; Hepatitis Research Center, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 10051, Taiwan"},{"name":"Centre of Mini-invasive Interventional Oncology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 10051, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nagy","family":"Habib","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mikael H.","family":"Sodergren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,3,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1683","DOI":"10.1001\/jamaoncol.2017.3055","article-title":"The burden of primary liver cancer and underlying etiologies from 1990 to 2015 at the global, regional, and national level: Results from the global burden of disease study 2015","volume":"3","author":"Akinyemiju","year":"2017","journal-title":"JAMA Oncol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"E359","DOI":"10.1002\/ijc.29210","article-title":"Cancer incidence and mortality worldwide: Sources, methods and major patterns in GLOBOCAN 2012","volume":"136","author":"Ferlay","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. 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