Table 2. ncRNAs involved in the regulation of adaptive immune cells.

NcRNA	Expression in HCC	Related immune cell	Target molecules/pathway	Function in TIME	Impact on HCC	Reference
lncRNA NEAT1	Upregulated	CD8+ T cells	miR-155/Tim-3	Induce CD8+ T cells apoptosis and dampen its cytolysis activity against HCC cells	Promote immune evasion and tumor progression	65
lncRNA lnc-Tim3	Upregulated	CD8+ T cells	Tim-3/Bat3/Lck/ZAP70/AP-1/NF-AT1 and Bat3/p300/p53/RelA	Stimulate CD8+ T-cell exhaustion	Promote immunosuppression and tumor growth	66
circRNA circMET	Upregulated	CD8+ T lymphocytes	miR-30-5p/Snail/DPP4/CXCL10	Stimulate CD8+ lymphocyte infiltration	Enhance immunosuppression	67
microRNA-132	Upregulated	Th17	SNIP1	Promote Th17 differentiation and function	Promote HCC cell migration and EMT	68
microRNA-34a	Downregulated	Tregs	CCL22	Suppress Treg recruitment	Enhance immune surveillance, suppress tumor growth, and metastasis	69
lncRNA EGFR	Upregulated	Tregs	EGFR/AP-1/NF-AT1	Stimulate Treg differentiation, inhibit CTL activity	Promote immunosuppression and HCC growth	70
circRNA circGSE1	Upregulated	Tregs	miR-324-5p/TGFBR1/Smad3/FOXP3 axis	Induce the expansion of Tregs	Promote immune escape, enhance tumor growth and metastasis	71
lncRNA FENDRR	Downregulated	Tregs	miR-423-5p/GADD45B	Inhibit Treg infiltration	Suppress immune escape and tumor growth	72
lncRNA LINC00261	Downregulated	B cells	miR105-5p/SELL	Promote B-cell dysfunction	Promote HCC progression	73

HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; NA, not available; ncRNA, noncoding RNA; Th, T-helper cell; TIME, tumor immune microenvironment; Treg, regulatory T cells.