Toward a new landscape for the mechanism of immunosuppression in hepatocellular carcinoma

Excerpt

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related mortality in the world [1]. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, alcoholism, as well as metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) are the major etiologies of HCC [2]. Despite the implementation of global HBV vaccination for newborns, extensive prescription of effective antiviral therapy for HBV or HCV infections, and the establishment of surveillance programs for patients who bear a high risk of developing HCC, the incidence and mortality rates of HCC are still rising, especially in the United States and Europe [2]. Moreover, patients who are diagnosed of HCC have dismal outcomes with a 5-year overall survival (OS) rate of 18%, and liver cancer now stands the second most lethal cancer after pancreatic cancer. It might be attributable to that most of the patients are diagnosed of HCC at intermediate or advanced stage, which make curative treatment modalities, such as liver transplantation, surgical resection and local ablation therapies, infeasible for such patients [3]. …