Fig. 7

The potential immunological mechanism of sFGL2 in HCC development. sFGL2 attenuates DC activity by inhibiting Akt signaling and induces DCs into a regulatory state. sFGL2 blockage results in attenuated DC expression of CD83 and MHCII and increased expression of CD31, which hinders DC-mediated stimulation of CD8⁺ T cells and Th1 cells. Decreased production of granzyme B and perforin from CD8⁺ T cells exacerbates immunosuppression in the HCC microenvironment. Additionally, the number of Tregs increases along with elevated IL-35 levels. The immunological balance in HCC is thereby disrupted, resulting in dominant immunosuppression and tumor progression