Immunomodulatory impacts of thermal and pulsed field ablation therapy on hepatocellular carcinoma associated with viral hepatitis.

Ablation therapy for liver cancer has become one of the most important tools for the radical treatment of early-stage liver cancer and the palliative treatment of middle- and late-stage liver cancer. Ablation not only kills liver cancer cells directly, but also activates the antitumor immune response of the body. However, the activated antitumor immune response is not enough to inhibit the recurrence or stop the progression of liver cancer. Immunotherapy offers new hope in this context, but its efficacy is still unsatisfactory. Understanding the role and mechanism of different ablation therapies in activating antitumor immune responses is the basis for the development of ablation-specific immunotherapy protocols. In particular, pulsed field ablation, as a nonthermal ablation technique, can make up for the shortcomings of thermal ablation. However, as pulsed field ablation is still an emerging technology, the mechanism of activation of antitumor immune responses by ablation remains unclear. Therefore, comparing the similarities and differences between thermal ablation and pulsed field ablation in activating antitumor immunity can provide theoretical support for the development of immunotherapy after thermal ablation and pulsed field ablation for liver cancer.