Inhibiting ZDHHC3 for HCC antitumor immunity

Inhibiting tumor cell ZDHHC3, a palmitoyltransferase that promotes cholesterol synthesis, could help treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by decreasing cholesterol levels in the tumor microenvironment, and relieving suppression of CD4⁺ T cell cytotoxicity to increase antitumor immunity.

In bioinformatic analyses of public patient datasets, ZDHHC3 mRNA was increased in HCC tumors compared with non-cancerous liver tissues, and higher tumor ZDHHC3 mRNA expression was associated with shorter survival and higher expression of a tumor immune dysfunction gene signature. ...