Taken together, the results of our comprehensive study based on a highly sensitive enrichment strategy gives novel important insights into HCC immunity by showing that circulating TAA-specific CD8+ T-cell responses are only present at very low frequencies, that they show a heterogeneous phenotype ranging from a naïve to an antigen-experienced phenotype indicating improper activation or priming, that they are not stably enhanced by TACE and probably most importantly, that they are not showing a phenotype indicative of T-cell exhaustion. The gene discussed is CD8A; the disease is hepatocellular carcinoma.