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Monge Bonilla et al. Hepatoma Res 2020;6:68 Hepatoma Research
DOI: 10.20517/2394-5079.2020.58

Review Open Access

Immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma with
infection of hepatitis B or C virus

Cecilia Monge Bonilla, Nicole A. McGrath, Jianyang Fu, Changqing Xie

Thoracic and Gastrointestinal Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes
of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Correspondence to: Dr. Changqing Xie, Thoracic and Gastrointestinal Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research,
National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Building 10, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
E-mail: changqing.xie@nih.gov
How to cite this article: Monge Bonilla C, McGrath NA, Fu J, Xie C. Immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma with infection of
hepatitis B or C virus. Hepatoma Res 2020;6:68. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-5079.2020.58
Received: 9 Jun 2020 First Decision: 27 Jul 2020 Revised: 18 Aug 2020 Accepted: 27 Aug 2020 Published: 12 Oct 2020

Academic Editor: Sandi Alexander Kwee Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Jing Yu

Abstract
Received: First Decision: Revised: Accepted: Published:
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has one of highest mortalities globally amongst cancers, but has limited
Science Editor: Copy Editor: Production Editor: Jing Yu therapeutic options once in the advanced stage. Hepatitis B or C virus infection are the most common drivers
for HCC carcinogenesis, triggering chronic liver inflammation and adding to the complexity of the immune
microecosystem of HCC. The emergence of immunotherapy has afforded a new avenue of therapeutic options
for patients with advanced HCC with a history of hepatitis B or C virus infection. This article reviews the change
of immunity elicited by hepatitis B or C virus infection, the immune feature of HCC, and the clinical evidence for
immunotherapy in advanced HCC and discusses future directions in this field.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, immunotherapy

INTRODUCTION
[1,2]
Liver cancers are the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide , and there are over
[3]
800,000 new primary liver cancer cases around the world each year . Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
[1]
accounts for 75%-85% of these cases and is one of the most aggressive liver cancers . The incidence of HCC
is increasing in many high-income countries . The majority of HCC occurs in patients with underlying
[2]
chronic liver diseases triggered by various risks dependent on geographic area, sex, age, and degree of liver
damage . Furthermore, males are twice as likely as females to develop HCC .
[5]
[4]
© The Author(s) 2020. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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