Spatial transcriptomics and proteomics of post-transplant HCC recurrence using 10x Visium CytAssist
Post-transplant hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence is a devastating disease with an abysmal prognosis and no established treatment or prevention options. We performed spatial analysis to profile the tumor immune microenvironment in primary HCC at liver transplantation and in recurrent HCC at re-hepatectomy and elucidate the molecular mechanisms that drive recurrence under immunosuppression. This analysis offers potential for developing new therapeutic strategies against post-transplant HCC recurrence. Paired FFPE samples from primary and recurrent sites were collected from patients who underwent re-hepatectomy for HCC recurrence after liver transplantation due to HCC. The Visium CytAssist Spatial Gene and Protein Expression for FFPE, 11 mm (10x Genomics) was utilized to perform Visium experiments on FFPE tissue from the primary tumor and the recurrent tumor (comprising tumor and non-tumor regions).