,3 More recently, clinical testing of monoclonal antibodies in the immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) class targeting the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) receptor/ligand (PD-L1) and the cytotoxic T-cell lymphocyte associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4), two key drivers of anticancer immunity,4 has led to the understanding that a proportion of patients with HCC may respond to T-cell immune reconstitution.5 This evidence concerns the gene PDCD1 and hepatocellular carcinoma.