Chang B, et al. - As in immunotherapy, blocking the programmed death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a very promising approach, researchers explored the correlation and prognostic values of serum soluble PD-1 and PD-L1 (sPD-1/sPD-L1) conjointly in HCC patients. For this purpose, they measured serum levels of sPD-1/sPD-L1 and inflammatory cytokines by antibody array assay in 120 HCC patients receiving radical resection. Outcomes suggest that sPD-L1 was a negative independent prognostic factor, while sPD-1 was a favorable independent prognostic factor in HCC patients. In addition, some similar associations were observed between inflammatory cytokines (IL-10, IL-17, TNF-α) and sPD-1 or sPD-L1, as well as a close positive association between sPD-1 and sPD-L1.