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Abstract Background Currently, there are no imaging predictors of immunotherapy outcome in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The study aim was to determine if stiffness changes measured by magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) can be a predictor of immunotherapy response in patients with advanced HCC. Materials and methods This was a prospective study of 15 patients with biopsy proven-advanced HCC treated with Pembrolizumab. All patients had liver MRE and liver biopsy at baseline and at 6 weeks of therapy. Change in HCC stiffness on MRE was compared with overall survival (OS), time to disease progression (TTP), and number of intratumoral CD3+ T lymphocytes. Analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation (R); p-value

Background: Cancer patients receiving antibodies abrogating immune checkpoint pathways may develop a diverse array of immune‐related adverse events (irAEs), of which lichenoid dermatitis (LD) is the most common. The mechanism driving the emergence of these irAEs remain understudied, underscoring a critical need to determine the unique gene expression profiles and immune composition in LD—irAE. Methods: LD—irAE (n = 3) and benign lichenoid keratosis (BLK) control (n = 3) were profiled with NanoString nCounter PanCancer Immune Profiling Panel interrogating the mRNA levels of 770 genes. Immunohistochemical (IHC) studies (n = 14 samples) for CD14, CD16, T‐Bet, Gata‐3, and FoxP3 were further evaluated using Aperio digital image analysis. Results: The LD—irAE showed downregulation of 93 mRNA transcripts (P < 0.05) and upregulation of 74 mRNA transcripts (P < 0.04) including toll‐like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4 (P < 0.05). CD14+ and CD16+ monocytes quantified by IHC (H‐score) were higher in LD—irAE than in the BLK control (P < 0.05). The immune composition of LD—irAE exhibited higher numbers of T‐Bet+ (Th1) cells compared with Gata‐3+ (Th2) cells (P = 0.016) and lower numbers of FoxP3 (T regulatory) cells (P = 0.008). Conclusions: LD—irAE exhibited activation of CD14/TLR innate immune response with increased CD14+ and CD16+ monocytes compared with BLK control. CD14/TLR signaling may drive the development of LD—irAE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]