Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), accounting for over 90% of primary liver cancers, remains a major global challenge for healthcare professionals. While immunotherapy has transformed the landscape of cancer treatment, its success is often limited by immune resistance, particularly through T cell exhaustion which remains a major barrier to effective immune responses in solid tumours, including HCC. As tumours progress, T cells undergo a gradual loss of functionality due to continuous antigen exposure and fail to exert effective anti-tumour responses. During this process, alterations in the epigenome, transcriptome, signalling pathways, and tumour metabolome, in addition to interactions with other cells in the tumour microenvironment, efficiently contribute to T cell exhaustion. Restoring T cell function brings hope for improving therapy outcomes and providing new treatment modalities for HCC patients. In this review, we explore the key cellular and molecular mechanisms driving T cell exhaustion, including the roles of immunosuppressive cells, metabolic stress, and epigenetic alterations focusing on HCC. We also discuss current and emerging strategies aimed at preventing or reversing T cell exhaustion, such as epigenetic modulation, immune checkpoint blockade, metabolic reprogramming, and combination therapies. Understanding these interconnected pathways is critical for designing more effective immunotherapy-based approaches for liver cancer.
DOI: 10.1111/jcmm.71044
Institutions: Royan Institute, Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research, High Institute for Education and Research in Transfusion Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Université Privée de Marrakech, UCLouvain, Karolinska Institutet, Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Language: English
Subfield: Oncology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,210
OpenAlex ID: W7127999435