Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Sep 27, 2021; 13(9): 979-1002
Published online Sep 27, 2021. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v13.i9.979
Epigenetic mechanisms of liver tumor resistance to immunotherapy
Julie Sanceau, Angélique Gougelet
Julie Sanceau, Angélique Gougelet, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, Sorbonne Université, Inserm, Université de Paris, Paris 75006, France
Author contributions: Gougelet A constructed and wrote the manuscript; Sanceau J wrote the manuscript.
Supported by Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche, No. DLK1-EPILIV 2018-2021 (to Gougelet A); and Université de Paris (to Sanceau J).
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Angélique Gougelet, PhD, Research Scientist, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, Sorbonne Université, Inserm, Université de Paris, 15 Rue de L'école de Médecine, Paris 75006, France. angelique.gougelet@inserm.fr
Received: February 23, 2021
Peer-review started: February 23, 2021
First decision: May 3, 2021
Revised: May 4, 2021
Accepted: August 5, 2021
Article in press: August 5, 2021
Published online: September 27, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: Although our understanding of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) pathogenesis has improved, this aggressive tumor is still devoid of effective treatments and remains a major health problem. Despite the justified hopes on immunotherapies, only a limited number of HCC patients respond to treatments. The characterization of the molecular mechanisms displayed by tumor cells to evade immune response will help to consider new combinations of therapies. In recent years, a growing body of evidence argues for a modulation of tumor immune privilege by several epigenetic events and renders drugs targeting these regulators as a partner of choice for immunotherapy combination strategies.