T and NK Cell-Based Immunotherapy in Chronic Viral Hepatitis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Dear Colleagues,

In chronic viral hepatitis and in hepatocarcinoma (HCC), antigen-specific T cells are described as functionally defective. T cell impairment is characterized by a progressive and hierarchical loss of T cell functions, depending on the duration of T cell exposure to high antigen loads.

Various evidence of dysfunction have also been observed for NK cells, which can play a pathogenetic role, exerting a regulatory activity on adaptive immune responses in both the setting of chronic viral hepatitis and HCC.

Further inhibitory mechanisms contributing to T and NK cell dysfunction are represented by the up-regulation of inhibitory receptors; transcriptional, metabolic, and epigenetic deregulation; nutrient depletion in the hepatic microenvironment; expansion of negative regulatory T and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (gMDSC); and the effect of suppressive cytokines.

Based on these lines of evidence, immune modulatory therapies are widely believed to represent potential therapeutic strategies for chronic viral hepatitis and HCC, and new immunotherapeutic approaches are being tested for clinical translation.

This Special Issue will highlight the present knowledge about the emerging cell-based immune-therapeutic strategies, aimed at reconstituting an efficient T/NK cell response in chronic viral hepatitis and in hepatocarcinoma, including immune checkpoint blockers, metabolic cell modulation, therapeutic vaccines, and T and NK cell engineering.

Dr. Paola Fisicaro
Dr. Carolina Boni
Guest Editors

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