Strategies to Improve the Antitumor Effect of Immunotherapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most fatal malignancies in the world, is usually diagnosed in advanced stages due to late symptom manifestation with very limited therapeutic options, which leads to ineffective intervention and dismal prognosis. For a decade, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have offered an overall survival (OS) benefit when used in a first-line (sorafenib and lenvatinib) and second-line setting (regorafenib and cabozantinib) in advanced HCC, while long-term response remains unsatisfactory due to the onset of primary or acquired resistance. Recently, immunotherapy has emerged as a promising therapy in the treatment of several solid tumors, such as melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. Moreover, as the occurrence of HCC is associated with immune tolerance and immunosurveillance escape, there is a potent rationale for employing immunotherapy in HCC. However, immunotherapy monotherapy, mainly including immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) that target checkpoints programmed death-1 (PD-1), programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), and the cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4), has a relatively low response rate. Thus, the multi-ICIs or the combination of immunotherapy with other therapies, like antiangiogenic drugs and locoregional therapies, has become a novel strategy to treat HCC. Combining different ICIs may have a synergistical effect attributed to the complementary effects of the two immune checkpoint pathways (CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1 pathways). The incorporation of antiangiogenic drugs in ICIs can enhance antitumor immune responses via synergistically regulating the vasculature and the immune microenvironment of tumor. In addition, locoregional treatments can improve antitumor immunity by releasing the neoplasm antigens from killed tumor cells; in turn, this antitumor immune response can be intensified by immunotherapy. Therefore, the combination of locoregional treatments and immunotherapy may achieve greater efficacy through further synergistic effects for advanced HCC. This review aims to summarize the currently reported results and ongoing trials of the ICIs-based combination therapies for HCC to explore the rational combination strategies and further improve the survival of patients with HCC.

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Emerging role of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Medicina ◽

10.3390/medicina55100698 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 55 (10) ◽

pp. 698 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Longo ◽

Brunetti ◽

Gnoni ◽

Licchetta ◽

Delcuratolo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Kinase Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Primary Liver Cancer ◽

Single Agent ◽

First Line ◽

Dismal Prognosis ◽

Programmed Death

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary liver cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. A total of 70–80% of patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage with a dismal prognosis. Sorafenib had been the standardcare for almost a decade until 2018 when the Food and Drug Administration approved an alternative first-line agent namely lenvatinib. Cabozantinib, regorafenib, and ramucirumab also displayed promising results in second line settings. FOLFOX4, however, results inan alternative first-line treatment for the Chineseclinical oncology guidelines. Moreover,nivolumab and pembrolizumab,two therapeutics against the Programmed death (PD)-ligand 1 (PD-L1)/PD1 axis have been recently approvedfor subsequent-line therapy. However, similar to other solid tumors, the response rate of single agent targeting PD-L1/PD1 axis is low. Therefore, a lot of combinatory approaches are under investigation, including the combination of different immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), the addition of ICIs after resection or during loco-regional therapy, ICIs in addition to kinase inhibitors, anti-angiogenic therapeutics, and others. This review focuses on the use of ICIs for the hepatocellular carcinoma with a careful assessmentof new ICIs-based combinatory approaches.

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Ipilimumab and nivolumab/pembrolizumab in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma refractory to prior immune checkpoint inhibitors

Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer ◽

10.1136/jitc-2020-001945 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. e001945 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jeffrey Sum Lung Wong ◽

Gerry Gin Wai Kwok ◽

Vikki Tang ◽

Bryan Cho Wing Li ◽

Roland Leung ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Objective Response ◽

Acquired Resistance ◽

Survival Rates ◽

Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Primary Resistance ◽

Advanced Hcc

BackgroundProgrammed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) pathway blockade with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is a standard therapy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) nowadays. No strategies to overcome ICI resistance have been described. We aimed to evaluate the use of ipilimumab and anti-PD-1 ICIs (nivolumab or pembrolizumab) combinations in patients with advanced HCC with progression on prior ICIs.MethodsPatients with advanced HCC with documented tumor progression on prior ICIs and subsequently received ipilimumab with nivolumab/pembrolizumab were analyzed. Objective response rate (ORR), median duration of response (DOR), time-to-progression (TTP), overall survival (OS), and treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were assessed.ResultsTwenty-five patients were included. The median age was 62 (range: 51–83). About 68% were of Child-Pugh (CP) Grade A and 48% had primary resistance to prior ICI. At median follow-up of 37.7 months, the ORR was 16% with a median DOR of 11.5 months (range: 2.76–30.3). Three patients achieved complete response. The median TTP was 2.96 months (95% CI: 1.61 to 4.31). Median OS was 10.9 months (95% CI: 3.99 to 17.8) and the 1 year, 2 year and 3 year survival rates were 42.4%, 32.3% and 21.6%, respectively. The ORR was 16.7% in primary resistance group and 15.4% in acquired resistance group (p=1.00). All responders were of CP A and Albumin-Bilirubin (ALBI) Grade 1 or 2. CP and ALBI Grades were significantly associated with OS (p=0.006 and p<0.001, respectively). Overall, 52% of patients experienced TRAEs and 12% experienced Grade 3 or above TRAEs.ConclusionsIpilimumab and nivolumab/pembrolizumab can achieve durable antitumor activity and encouraging survival outcomes with acceptable toxicity in patients with advanced HCC who had prior treatment with ICIs.

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Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors as Monotherapy or Within a Combinatorial Strategy in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms21176302 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (17) ◽

pp. 6302

Author(s):

Michela Guardascione ◽

Giuseppe Toffoli

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Clinical Trials ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Kinase Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Target Therapy ◽

Antiangiogenic Agents ◽

Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Advanced Hcc

In advanced-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), systemic treatment represents the standard therapy. Target therapy has marked a new era based on a greater knowledge of molecular disease signaling. Nonetheless, survival outcomes and long-term response remain unsatisfactory, mostly because of the onset of primary or acquired resistance. More recently, results from clinical trials with immune targeting agents, such as the immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), have shown a promising role for these drugs in the treatment of advanced HCC. In the context of an intrinsic tolerogenic liver environment, since HCC-induced immune tolerance, it is supported by multiple immunosuppressive mechanisms and several clinical trials are now underway to evaluate ICI-based combinations, including their associations with antiangiogenic agents or multikinase kinase inhibitors and multiple ICIs combinations. In this review, we will first discuss the basic principles of hepatic immunogenic tolerance and the evasive mechanism of antitumor immunity in HCC; furthermore we will elucidate the consistent biological rationale for immunotherapy in HCC even in the presence of an intrinsic tolerogenic environment. Subsequently, we will critically report and discuss current literature on ICIs in the treatment of advanced HCC, including a focus on the currently explored combinatorial strategies and their rationales. Finally, we will consider both challenges and future directions in this field.

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Transarterial Chemoembolization Improves Survival in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients Treated with Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Plus Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

10.21203/rs.3.rs-679376/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yue Hu ◽

Tao Pan ◽

Xi Cai ◽

Quansheng He ◽

Yubao Zheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Tyrosine Kinase ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Transarterial Chemoembolization ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Kinase Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Advanced Hcc ◽

Tace Group

Abstract BackgroundThe survival benefit and safety of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is unclear. We aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of TACE combined with TKIs and ICIs the treatment of advanced HCC. MethodsIn this study, the conditions of 147 patients with advanced HCC who underwent TKIs plus ICIs treatment between July 2017 and April 2020 were evaluated. We divided these patients into the TACE group and non-TACE group based on whether they were treated with TACE during TKIs plus ICIs treatment, and compared their survival outcomes, especially overall survival (OS), and whether they were exposed to unexpected toxicities. ResultsIn this study, a total of 98 patients who underwent TACE during TKIs plus ICIs treatment were included in the TACE group, while the other 49 patients were included in the non-TACE group. According to the Modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST), the objective response rate (ORR) of the TACE group was higher than that of the non-TACE group (ORR 74.5% vs. 40.8%, p ＜0.001). The OS of the TACE group was significantly longer than the non-TACE group (OS 19.3 months vs. 10.8 months, p = 0.010). The incidence of grade 3-4 toxicities in the TACE group was similar to that in the non-TACE group (33.7% vs. 28.6%, p = 0.532). ConclusionsThe TACE treatment combined with TKIs plus ICIs resulted in longer OS compared to the treatment of systemic TKIs plus ICIs without TACE during the process of advanced HCC.

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Medical oncology management of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma 2019: a reality check

Frontiers of Medicine ◽

10.1007/s11684-019-0728-2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 273-283

Author(s):

Amy Lee ◽

Fa-Chyi Lee

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Tyrosine Kinase ◽

Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Kinase Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Treatment Options ◽

Research Trend ◽

Advanced Hcc

AbstractIn terms of global cancer-related deaths, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has the fourth highest mortality rate. Up until 2017, treatment of advanced HCC was largely limited to sorafenib, an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor, with little to no success in the development of alternative treatment options. However, in the past two years, there has been an unprecedented increase in both the number and type of treatment options available for HCC. As of 2019, the US FDA has approved four oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors, two immune checkpoint inhibitors, and one anti-angiogenesis antibody for the treatment of HCC. Even with this new variety, systemic treatment of advanced HCC remains largely unsatisfactory, and the median survival rate stands at approximately one year. The expected breakthrough of using immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced HCC did not materialize in 2019. The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in conjunction with oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors or anti-angiogenesis medications is the current clinical research trend, the results of which are eagerly anticipated. Despite limited progress in survival, HCC research is currently experiencing a period of growth and innovation, and there is hope for significant advances in the treatment of advanced HCC as the field continues to develop.

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Emerging Role of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

10.20944/preprints201909.0140.v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Vito Longo ◽

Oronzo Brunetti ◽

Antonio Gnoni ◽

Antonella Licchetta ◽

Sabina Del Curatolo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Kinase Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Primary Liver Cancer ◽

Single Agent ◽

Locoregional Therapy ◽

First Line ◽

Dismal Prognosis

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common primary liver cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. A total of 70-80% of patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage with a dismal prognosis. Sorafenib has been the standard of care for almost a decade until 2018 when FDA approved an alternative first-line agent namely lenvatinib. Whereas FOLFOX4 results an alternative first-line treatment for the chinese clinical oncology guidelines. In addition to cabozantinib, regorafenib, and ramucirumab, two therapeutics against the PD-L1/PD1 axis have been recently approved for subsequent-line therapy, as nivolumab and pembrolizumab. However, similar to other solid tumors, the response rate of single-agent targeting PD-L1/PD1 axis is low. Therefore a lot of combinatory approaches are under investigation, including the combination of different immune checkpoint inhibitors, the addition of immune checkpoint inhibitors after resection or during locoregional therapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors in addition to kinase inhibitors, anti-angiogenic therapeutics, and others. This review focuses on the use of ICIs for the hepatocellular carcinoma with an attent evaluation of new ICIs based combinatory approaches.

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Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Patients with Recurrent Hepatocellular Carcinoma after Liver Transplantation: A Case Report and Literature Review

Current Cancer Drug Targets ◽

10.2174/1568009620666200520084415 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (9) ◽

pp. 720-727

Author(s):

Jianguo Qiu ◽

Wei Tang ◽

Chengyou Du

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Liver Transplantation ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Graft Rejection ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Liver Graft ◽

Immune Checkpoints ◽

Term Survival ◽

Liver Preservation ◽

Programmed Death

Background: Immune checkpoint modulators, such as the programmed death protein-1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) inhibitor, cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) inhibitor have been investigated with encouraging results for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the safety of this strategy in patients with previous liver transplantation (LT) is not well studied. Objective: To explore the safety and feasibility of immune checkpoints inhibitors in recurrent and metastatic HCC patients on a background of LT. Methods: A case of recurrent, refractory, metastatic HCC after LT, where PD-1 inhibitor was initiated, was described and related literature was reviewed. Results: There was complete remission in lung metastases and the partial radiological response of metastatic retroperitoneal lymph node to the drug with no liver graft rejection after 13 cycles of PD- 1 inhibitor injection. PD-1inhibitor, at least in this patient, was verified to play an important role in controlling tumor progression and prolonging patient survival. Conclusions: This novel drug might be a useful method to allow doctors to guarantee a better chance for long-term survival in recurrent, metastatic HCC patients with the previous LT. However, it should be used with caution in allograft recipients due to the risk of acute graft rejection, further larger, prospective studies are needed to determine optimal immunomodulatory therapy to achieve optimal anti-tumor efficacy with transplant liver preservation.

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Serum neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio as a potential predictor of treatment response for immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2021.39.15_suppl.e16156 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. e16156-e16156

Author(s):

Jian He ◽

Zhiqiang Mo ◽

Qicong Mai ◽

Xiaoming Chen

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Treatment Response ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Post Treatment ◽

Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Advanced Hcc ◽

Lymphocyte Ratio ◽

Pre Treatment

e16156 Background: Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been shown to associate with tumor progression. The present study was to investigate the role of NLR on predicting the treatment response for immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) therapy in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 81 patients received ICIs for advanced HCC from January 2017 to July 2019. We analyzed whether pre- and first 3 weeks post- treatment serum NLR level was associated with ICIs outcome. Results: In this study, the pre-treatment NLR level ranged from 0.64 to 14.93 among 81 patients. The cut-off level of NLR was set as the median value of 2.79. The objective response rate (ORR) in the patients with NLR＜2.79 (low NLR) was 25.0%, which was significantly better than that of patients with NLR ≥2.79 (high NLR) (7.3%, P ＝0.03). Compared to patients with high NLR, patients with low NLR exhibited significantly longer median progression-free survival (PFS) (3.7 vs 3.0 months, P ＝0.004) and median overall survival (OS) (10.3 vs 7.5 months, P ＝0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed high NLR was an independent unfavourable prognostic factor for PFS (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.857, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.093-3.154; P = 0.022) and OS (HR = 2.267, 95% CI = 1.221-4.207; P = 0.009). For the patients with high pre-treatment NLR level, ICIs outcome was stratified more clearly by first 3 weeks post- treatment NLR level. Conclusions: The pre- and first 3 weeks post- treatment serum NLR level could be considered as a predictive factor of treatment response for ICIs in patients with advanced HCC.

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Immunotherapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Is There a Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers11081078 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 1078 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Amit Mahipal ◽

Sri Harsha Tella ◽

Anuhya Kommalapati ◽

Alexander Lim ◽

Richard Kim

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Primary Liver Cancer ◽

Progression Free Survival ◽

The United States ◽

Hepatic Reserve ◽

Dismal Prognosis ◽

United States Food

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer with dismal prognosis when diagnosed at advanced stages. Surgical resection of the primary tumor or orthotropic liver transplantation serves as a potential curative option. However, this approach is highly dependent on the hepatic reserve and baseline functional status of the patient. Liver directed therapies such as portal vein embolization (PVE), trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE), and systemic chemotherapy are employed in non-surgical candidates. Sorafenib was the only approved systemic therapeutic agent for almost a decade until the recent approval of lenvatinib by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an alternate first-line agent. Regorafenib, nivolumab, pembrolizumab and cabozantinib are approved by the FDA as second-line agents in patients who failed or could not tolerate sorafenib. Ramucirumab was recently FDA approved for the subset of patients that have high alfa-fetoprotein levels (>400 ng/mL). A better understanding of tumorigenesis and encouraging clinical trial results that evaluated immune-checkpoint inhibitors opened doors for immunotherapy in HCC. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have demonstrated a prolonged median overall and progression-free survival in a subset of patients with HCC. On-going translational and clinical research will hopefully provide us with a better understanding of tumor markers, genetic aberrations and other factors that determine the immunotherapy response in HCC. In this review, we sought to summarize the potential role and future directions of immunotherapy in the management of HCC.

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Phase IIa safety and efficacy of milciclib, a pan-cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor, in unresectable, sorafenib-refractory or -intolerant hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2020.38.15_suppl.e16711 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. e16711-e16711

Author(s):

Erica Villa ◽

Fabio Piscaglia ◽

Rabit Geva ◽

George Dalecos ◽

George Papatheodoridis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Kinase Inhibitors ◽

Kinase Inhibitor ◽

Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽

Primary Objective ◽

Response To Treatment ◽

Cyclin Dependent Kinase ◽

Advanced Hcc ◽

Cyclin Dependent Kinase Inhibitor ◽

Secondary Endpoints

e16711 Background: Current hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) therapeutics, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) and checkpoint inhibitors (CI), provide limited improvement in overall survival, suggesting the need to identify drugs with broad-spectrum mechanisms of action, used alone or in combination with a TKI or CI. Milciclib, a pan cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor, exhibited anti-cancer activity in refractory solid malignancy patients. The primary objective of this trial was to evaluate safety and tolerability of milciclib in sorafenib-refractory or intolerant advanced HCC patients. Methods: Single arm and multi-center study in advanced HCC patients was conducted in Italy, Greece and Israel. Milciclib was administered orally for up to 6 cycles. Each cycle consisted of 100mg milciclib daily for 4d on/3d off/week for 4 weeks. Safety assessment was the primary endpoint and secondary endpoints included progression free survival (PFS), time to progression (TTP) and clinical benefit rate (CBR). Results: A total of 31 patients were enrolled and 28 were evaluable for efficacy, of which 14 (50%) completed 6-months of treatment. Milciclib was well-tolerated with manageable toxicities. Eighteen of 31 treated patients had drug-related adverse events (AEs) with most frequent (≥5%) occurrence of drug-related diarrhea, nausea, asthenia, fatigue, retinal hemorrhage, rash and myalgia. No drug-related deaths were recorded. Nine of 14 patients (64%) continued treatment under Compassionate Use after study completion. Seven patients received milciclib until 9, 9, 10, 11, 13, 13 and 16 months. The remaining 2 patients are in the 16th month of treatment. Clinical response to treatment, assessed by mRECIST (independent radiological review), is shown in the Table. Both median TTP and PFS were 5.9 months. Conclusions: Milciclib, acting via a new mechanism, was safe, well-tolerated and met primary and secondary endpoints with 61% CBR. These promising clinical data warrant further evaluation of milciclib. Clinical trial information: NCT03109886 . [Table: see text]

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