【Abstract】 Programmed cell death 1 (PD1) and its ligand (PDL1) are significantly associate with tumor occurrence and development. It has been proved that PD1 activation contributes to tumor immune escape and PD1/PDL1 inhibitors can restore the activity of T cells, thereby enhance immune response. By this mean, PD1 pathway inhibition should be effect in various tumors and great achievements have been got in nonsmall cell lung cancer and advanced malignant melanoma. So, as a very promising approach in cancer therapy, the application of PD1/PDL1 signal pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma（HCC） is worth looking forward to too. This paper reviews recent basic and clinical advances of PD1 pathway in HCC with the highlights of clinical application of PD1/PDL1 inhibitors and the way of antiPD1 therapy might go in clinic.