Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a high mortality malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Because the immune system plays a dual role by assisting the host barrier and tumor progression, there are complex interactions with considerable prognostic significance. Herein, we performed single-sample gene set enrichment (ssGSEA) to explore the tumor microenvironment (TME) and quantify the tumor-infiltrating immune cell (TIIC) subgroups of immune responses based on the HCC cohort of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. We evaluate molecular subpopulations, survival, function, and expression differential associations, as well as reveal potential targets, and biomarkers for immunotherapy. We combined the TME score and the 29 immune cell types in the low, medium, and high immunity groups. The stromal score, immune score, and ESTIMATE score were positively correlated with immune activity but negatively correlated with the tumor purity. There were 23 human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-related genes that were significantly different. However, KIAA1429 was not significant among the different immunity groups. Besides, programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) expression increased with the increase of immune activity. This may provide valuable information for HCC immunotherapy. We also found that there was no significant difference in naïve B cells, macrophages M1, activated mast cells, resting natural killer (NK) cells, and T cells gamma delta among the different immunity groups. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis revealed that the differential proteins were mainly enriched in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) metabolism, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis-heparan sulfate/heparin, glycosphingolipid biosynthesis-ganglio series and proteasome. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the immune scene, uncovering remarkable immune infiltration patterns of various subtypes of HCC using ssGSEA. This study advances the understanding of immune response and provides a basis for research to enhance immunotherapy.

肝细胞癌（HCC）是一种高死亡率的恶性肿瘤，也是癌症相关死亡的第二大原因。由于免疫系统通过协助宿主屏障和肿瘤进展发挥双重作用，因此存在具有相当大预后意义的复杂相互作用。在此，我们基于癌症基因组图谱 (TCGA) 数据库的 HCC 队列进行了单样本基因集富集 (ssGSEA) 以探索肿瘤微环境 (TME) 并量化免疫反应的肿瘤浸润免疫细胞 (TIIC) 亚组. 我们评估分子亚群、存活率、功能和表达差异关联，并揭示免疫治疗的潜在靶点和生物标志物。我们将 TME 评分与低、中、高免疫组的 29 种免疫细胞类型相结合。基质评分、免疫评分、ESTIMATE评分与免疫活性呈正相关，与肿瘤纯度呈负相关。有 23 个人类白细胞抗原 (HLA) 相关基因存在显着差异。然而，KIAA1429 在不同免疫组中不显着。此外，程序性死亡配体1（PD-L1）和细胞毒性T淋巴细胞相关抗原4（CTLA-4）的表达随着免疫活性的增加而增加。这可能为HCC免疫治疗提供有价值的信息。我们还发现，不同免疫组的幼稚 B 细胞、巨噬细胞 M1、活化的肥大细胞、静息自然杀伤 (NK) 细胞和 γ δ 细胞没有显着差异。京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）通路分析显示，差异蛋白主要富集于α-亚麻酸（ALA）代谢、细胞因子-细胞因子受体相互作用、糖胺聚糖生物合成-硫酸乙酰肝素/肝素、鞘糖脂生物合成-神经节系列和蛋白酶体。我们的研究结果提供了对免疫场景的更深入了解，揭示了使用 ssGSEA 对各种 HCC 亚型的显着免疫浸润模式。这项研究促进了对免疫反应的理解，并为加强免疫治疗的研究提供了基础。使用 ssGSEA 揭示了各种 HCC 亚型的显着免疫浸润模式。这项研究促进了对免疫反应的理解，并为加强免疫治疗的研究提供了基础。使用 ssGSEA 揭示了各种 HCC 亚型的显着免疫浸润模式。这项研究促进了对免疫反应的理解，并为加强免疫治疗的研究提供了基础。