RT+ Anti-PD-1 for Patients With Advanced HCC (RT+PD-1-HCC)

Summary

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy, and its incidence is expected to increase in many countries in coming decades. Approximately 70-80% of newly diagnosed HCC patients already have advanced disease. Sorafenib and lenvatinib are recommended as first-line options for advanced HCC, the median overall survival of the patients with advanced HCC receiving sorafenib reached 10.7 months. Based on the results of phase II clinical studies and the recommendation of guidelines, the PD-1 monoclonal antibody, such as nivolumab and pembrolizumab, have been approved to treat the patients with advanced HCC by the FDA. PD-1 monoclonal antibody has been recommended as a second-line therapeutic strategy for HCC in the 2018 CSCO guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of primary liver cancer. However, the results of existing studies indicate that the objective response rate (ORR) of first-line PD-1 antibody therapy for patients with advanced liver cancer is about 20%. There is a growing recognition of radiation-induced cancer cells-external tumor control mechanisms, in which radiation therapy(RT) contributes not only to local control of target lesions, but also to the control of metastases away from the treatment site. In recent years, RT combined with immunotherapy as a new treatment method has achieved certain curative effect in some patients with metastatic cancer. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate the efficacy of combining radiation therapy plus systemic anti-PD-1 immunotherapy for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Timeline

Start

2020-01-10

Primary completion

2020-06-30

Completion

2020-07-30

Publications

• Background Llovet JM, Ricci S, Mazzaferro V, Hilgard P, Gane E, Blanc JF, de Oliveira AC, Santoro A, Raoul JL, Forner A, Schwartz M, Porta C, Zeuzem S, Bolondi L, Greten TF, Galle PR, Seitz JF, Borbath I, Haussinger D, Giannaris T, Shan M, Moscovici M, Voliotis D, Bruix J; SHARP Investigators Study Group. Sorafenib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. N Engl J Med. 2008 Jul 24;359(4):378-90. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0708857.
• Background Cheng AL, Kang YK, Chen Z, Tsao CJ, Qin S, Kim JS, Luo R, Feng J, Ye S, Yang TS, Xu J, Sun Y, Liang H, Liu J, Wang J, Tak WY, Pan H, Burock K, Zou J, Voliotis D, Guan Z. Efficacy and safety of sorafenib in patients in the Asia-Pacific region with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a phase III randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet Oncol. 2009 Jan;10(1):25-34. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(08)70285-7. Epub 2008 Dec 16.
• Background Zhu AX, Finn RS, Edeline J, Cattan S, Ogasawara S, Palmer D, Verslype C, Zagonel V, Fartoux L, Vogel A, Sarker D, Verset G, Chan SL, Knox J, Daniele B, Webber AL, Ebbinghaus SW, Ma J, Siegel AB, Cheng AL, Kudo M; KEYNOTE-224 investigators. Pembrolizumab in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma previously treated with sorafenib (KEYNOTE-224): a non-randomised, open-label phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2018 Jul;19(7):940-952. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(18)30351-6. Epub 2018 Jun 3.
• Background El-Khoueiry AB, Sangro B, Yau T, Crocenzi TS, Kudo M, Hsu C, Kim TY, Choo SP, Trojan J, Welling TH Rd, Meyer T, Kang YK, Yeo W, Chopra A, Anderson J, Dela Cruz C, Lang L, Neely J, Tang H, Dastani HB, Melero I. Nivolumab in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (CheckMate 040): an open-label, non-comparative, phase 1/2 dose escalation and expansion trial. Lancet. 2017 Jun 24;389(10088):2492-2502. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31046-2. Epub 2017 Apr 20.
• Background Herrera FG, Bourhis J, Coukos G. Radiotherapy combination opportunities leveraging immunity for the next oncology practice. CA Cancer J Clin. 2017 Jan;67(1):65-85. doi: 10.3322/caac.21358. Epub 2016 Aug 29.
• Background Twyman-Saint Victor C, Rech AJ, Maity A, Rengan R, Pauken KE, Stelekati E, Benci JL, Xu B, Dada H, Odorizzi PM, Herati RS, Mansfield KD, Patsch D, Amaravadi RK, Schuchter LM, Ishwaran H, Mick R, Pryma DA, Xu X, Feldman MD, Gangadhar TC, Hahn SM, Wherry EJ, Vonderheide RH, Minn AJ. Radiation and dual checkpoint blockade activate non-redundant immune mechanisms in cancer. Nature. 2015 Apr 16;520(7547):373-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14292. Epub 2015 Mar 9.
• Li JX, Su TS, Gong WF, Zhong JH, Yan LY, Zhang J, Li LQ, He ML, Zhang RJ, Du YQ, Wang XT, Liang SX, Xiang BD. Combining stereotactic body radiotherapy with camrelizumab for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: a single-arm trial. Hepatol Int. 2022 Oct;16(5):1179-1187. doi: 10.1007/s12072-022-10396-7. Epub 2022 Aug 24.

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