Comprehensive review on immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: Current status and future perspectives

Despite encouraging clinical outcomes, significant challenges persist, including immune evasion mechanisms, limited response rates, treatment resistance, and the complexity of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Addressing these obstacles requires integrating genomic insights, artificial intelligence-driven biomarker discovery, and rational combinatorial strategies that pair ICIs with targeted agents, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy to enhance immune activation. Future directions emphasize the development of precision immunotherapy guided by molecular profiling and predictive biomarkers to improve patient stratification and treatment efficacy. This review consolidates current progress, identifies key limitations, and outlines emerging avenues to optimize the future landscape of HCC immunotherapy.