Immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: the force awakens in HCC?

Abstract

Systemic therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been disappointing. The only drug approved by Food and Drug Administration recently has been sorafenib. Sorafenib has modest benefits with a low response rate and an improvement in time to progression of only 2-3 months. Multiple randomized trials, which compare the new agent to sorafenib as either first line or second line therapy, have been negative, showing no improved clinical benefit. Recently, in a large phase III randomized trial, regorafenib has shown superiority to placebo as a second line treatment for HCC. However, this drug has multiple side effects and is not well tolerated by many patients. The clinical benefit is also modest. Clearly, new approaches to treat advanced HCC are still needed. There is data showing that HCC is immunogenic and the immune system can be stimulated to attack these cancer cells. This article will briefly review immunotherapy as a promising treatment for HCC.

Keywords

Immunotherapy / hepatocellular carcinoma / sorafenib / new approaches

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