REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Hepato Pancreatic Biliary Cancers
This article is part of the Research TopicNovel Insights into the Tumor Microenvironment's Role in Liver Cancer Occurrence and RecurrenceView all 4 articles
Unveiling the Hidden Regulators: How Post-Translational Modifications Influence the Progression and Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Provisionally accepted
- Anhui Wanbei Coal Electricity Group General Hospital, Suzhou, China
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common and aggressive primary liver cancer. Due to its high incidence and fatality rates, it poses a serious threat to global public health. Protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) are crucial regulatory mechanisms that occur after translation and fine-tune cellular functions. Common PTM types-including phosphorylation, ubiquitination, acetylation, methylation, glycosylation, ubiquitin-like modifications (such as UFMylation and SUMOylation), and Lactylation-affect protein activity, stability, subcellular localization, and interaction networks. These modifications dynamically regulate various biological processes in response to internal and external stimuli. Dysregulated PTMs have been intimately associated with the development, spread, and resistance to treatment of HCC in the setting of cancer. This review provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying HCC by systematically examining the roles of PTMs. It also seeks to inform therapeutic strategies and improve diagnosis and prognostic assessment.
Keywords: clinical translation, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, metabolic reprogramming, post-translational modifications, therapy
Received: 16 Oct 2025; Accepted: 09 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Qi, Ding, Hu, Li, Li and Tang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Heng Tang
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