Hepatobiliary Cancer

Liver cancer is one of the fastest-growing causes of cancer death worldwide – and one of the hardest to treat.

Most patients are diagnosed too late for surgery. Even with the best available immunotherapies, survival remains low, with the average patient living less than two years after diagnosis.

We urgently need new answers – and lives depend on them. That’s why our hepatologists, oncologists and scientists are working together to understand why liver cancer is so aggressive, and how we can fight back.

Our research in this area focuses on the tumour microenvironment – the hostile ecosystem inside the liver that helps cancer hide from the immune system and resist treatment. In chronic liver disease, this environment becomes even more complex and immune-suppressive.

By exploring the biology of immune evasion, chronic inflammation and cancer metabolism, we’re:

• Identifying new therapeutic targets

• Finding biomarkers for earlier diagnosis

• Testing next-generation immunotherapies to overcome resistance

• Developing precision medicine strategies tailored to each patient’s disease profile

We’re also building partnerships with global leaders in biotech and immunotherapy to bring discoveries into the clinic faster – and give patients better options, sooner.

Through innovative trials, high-powered data analysis and world-class translational science, our goal for this research theme is simple: to radically improve survival for people with liver cancer. 

Theme Leads

Dr Niloufar Safinia
Clinical Senior Lecturer in Hepatology - King's College London 
Honorary Consultant Transplant Hepatologist - King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

 

Dr Debashis Sarker
Reader in Experimental Oncology - King's College London 
Consultant Medical Oncologist - King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust