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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of primary liver cancer, is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, accounting for approximately 800 000 deaths annually. Treatment options for unresectable, advanced-stage HCC are very limited. For decades, tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as sorafenib and lenvatinib have been the only first-line treatments for advanced HCC. These inhibitors primarily target the signal transduction pathways in cancer cells to slow cancer cell proliferation and induce apoptosis. However, growing evidence suggests that the interaction between cancer cells and immune cells within the tumour immune microenvironment (TIME) is crucial for cancer cells to evade immunosurveillance. Blocking this crosstalk has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy for HCC treatment. For example, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) like nivolumab (anti-programmed death 1 (PD1)) and atezolizumab (anti-programmed death-ligand (PD-L1)) have demonstrated survival benefits in clinical trials and are now standard treatments for advanced HCC.1