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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1554372
This article is part of the Research Topic Community Series in Post-Translational Modifications of Proteins in Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy, Volume IV View all articles

Post-translational modifications in hepatocellular carcinoma: unlocking new frontiers in immunotherapy

Provisionally accepted
Yuexian Piao Yuexian Piao Xiaoling Zhang Xiaoling Zhang Wenjie Zhao Wenjie Zhao Min Li Min Li *
  • First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Liver cancer, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is one of the most common and aggressive malignancies worldwide. Immunotherapy has shown promising results in treating HCC, but its efficacy is often limited by complex mechanisms of immune evasion.Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of proteins play a critical role in regulating the immune responses within the tumor microenvironment (TME). These modifications influence protein function, stability, and interactions, which either promote or inhibit immune cell activity in cancer. In this mini-review, we explore the diverse PTMs that impact immune evasion in liver cancer, including glycosylation, phosphorylation, acetylation, and ubiquitination. We focus on how these PTMs regulate key immune checkpoint molecules such as PD-L1, CTLA-4, and the TCR complex. Furthermore, we discuss the potential of targeting PTMs in combination with existing immunotherapies to enhance the effectiveness of treatment in HCC. Understanding the role of PTMs in immune regulation may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies to overcome resistance to immunotherapy in liver cancer.

    Keywords: Post-translation modification, Immunotherapy, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, lactylation, Glycosylation

    Received: 02 Jan 2025; Accepted: 31 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Piao, Zhang, Zhao and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Min Li, First Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.