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Clinical immunology and immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: current progress and challenges

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Abstract

At the time of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) diagnosis, patients are most often at an advanced stage; however, the current treatment regimens remain unsatisfactory. Thus, novel and more powerful therapeutic approaches for advanced HCC are urgently required. Exacerbation of immunotolerant signals and/or escaping immunosurveillance leads to the development of HCC, which appears to be a rational reason to use immunotherapy to restore anticancer immunity. Several novel immunotherapeutic methods, including the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors, new types of immune cell adoption [e.g., chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T), TCR gene-modified T cells and stem cells], and microRNAs have been used in clinical trials for the treatment of HCC. However, some crucial issues remain to be addressed for such novel immunotherapy techniques. Finally, immunotherapy is now standing on the threshold of great advances in the fight against HCC.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant No. 81470837; Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant No. 81721002; Beijing Municipal & Technology Commission Grant No. Z171100001017183. All authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

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  1. Treatment and Research Center for Infectious Diseases, The Fifth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, 100 Western 4th Ring Road, Beijing, 100039, China

    Lifeng Wang & Fu-Sheng Wang

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Lifeng Wang and Fu-Sheng Wang have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Wang, L., Wang, FS. Clinical immunology and immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: current progress and challenges. Hepatol Int 13, 521–533 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12072-019-09967-y

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