NCT07432347

Decoding Epigenetic Mechanisms Driving Immune Evasion in Liver Cancer With Omics Approaches

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 270 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Niguarda Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This is a national, observational, retrospective, cross-sectional, non-profit study focused on patients with HCC. The study aims to characterize the expression and function of novel noncoding regulatory transcripts, including those containing TEsin the microenvironment of liver tumors, with emphasis on their role in T cell dysfunction.

Detailed description

We will use TILs, along with other immune, hepatocyte, and stromal cell populations isolated from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue, matched adjacent non-tumoral liver, and peripheral blood samples. Single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics will be employed to define the cellular distribution and molecular profiles of TE-containing transcripts, other noncoding RNAs, and associated gene expression programs within the HCC microenvironment. Functional experiments-including CRISPR-Cas13 or ASO-mediated silencing-will be performed to elucidate the role of the novel regulatory transcripts, including TE-transcripts, in modulating cellular identity within the liver TME. In parallel, epigenetic analyses such as ChIPseq, ATAC-seq, DNA methylation profiling, RADICL-seq, and Hi-C will be conducted to map the regulatory networks and chromatin architecture associated with these transcripts

Conditions

• Hepatocarcinoma

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
GENETIC	Collection of tumor tissue (Fresh or/and archival FFPE), blood samples	NGS, immunofluorescence analyses, transcriptional and immunophenotypic analyzes, scRNAseq, ChIP-seq/ATAC-seq, DNA methylation, single-cell transcriptomic and TCR sequencing

Timeline

• Start date: 2026-01-01
• Primary completion: 2029-01-31
• Completion: 2031-01-31
• First posted: 2026-02-25
• Last updated: 2026-02-27

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Italy