“Overcoming the limitations of immunotherapy-based treatment in liver cancers”

Increasing immunotherapy efficacy in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), which are
heterogeneous, aggressive and treatment-resistant liver cancers, will require rational combination strategies. The therapeutic benefits depend not only on cancer control but also on the feasibility of the combined treatment. Dan Duda, DMD, PhD, will
discuss several such strategies, showing that 1) normalization of the HCC immune
microenvironment is critical for the durability of responses to immunotherapy;
2) blocking CXCR4 increases DC activation and enhances immunotherapy feasibility and efficacy; 3) inhibiting B-cell-mediated immunosuppression enhances immunotherapy
efficacy; and 4) innate immune control of liver homeostasis enables effective combination immunotherapy in HCC.