Journal of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Sep 2023)

Immune-Based Combination Therapies for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma

  • Carloni R,
  • Sabbioni S,
  • Rizzo A,
  • Ricci AD,
  • Palloni A,
  • Petrarota C,
  • Cusmai A,
  • Tavolari S,
  • Gadaleta-Caldarola G,
  • Brandi G

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 10
pp. 1445 – 1463

Abstract

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Riccardo Carloni,1,2 Simone Sabbioni,1,2 Alessandro Rizzo,3 Angela Dalia Ricci,4 Andrea Palloni,1,2 Cataldo Petrarota,3 Antonio Cusmai,3 Simona Tavolari,1,2 Gennaro Gadaleta-Caldarola,5,* Giovanni Brandi1,2,* 1Department of Specialized, Experimental and Diagnostic Medicine, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; 2Division of Medical Oncology, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Bologna, Italy; 3Struttura Semplice Dipartimentale di Oncologia Medica per la Presa in Carico Globale del Paziente Oncologico “Don Tonino Bello”, I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Tumori “Giovanni Paolo II”, Bari, Italy; 4Medical Oncology Unit, National Institute of Gastroenterology, “Saverio de Bellis” Research Hospital, Bari, Italy; 5Unità Operativa Complessa di Oncologia Medica, Ospedale “Mons. A.R. Dimiccoli”, Barletta, Italy*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Alessandro Rizzo, Struttura Semplice Dipartimentale di Oncologia Medica per la Presa in Carico Globale del Paziente Oncologico “Don Tonino Bello”, I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Tumori “Giovanni Paolo II”, Viale Orazio Flacco 65, Bari, 70124, Italy, Tel +39-051-2144078, Fax +39-051-6364037, Email [email protected]: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth most frequent cause of cancer-related death worldwide. HCC frequently presents as advanced disease at diagnosis, and disease relapse following radical surgery is frequent. In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized the treatment of advanced HCC, particularly with the introduction of atezolizumab/bevacizumab as the new standard of care for first-line treatment. Recently, dual immune checkpoint blockade with durvalumab plus tremelimumab has also emerged as an effective first-line treatment for advanced HCC and most of the research is currently focused on developing combination treatments based mainly on ICIs. In this review, we will discuss the rationale and ongoing clinical trials of immune-based combination therapies for the treatment of advanced HCC, also focusing on new immunotherapy strategies such as chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T) and anti-cancer vaccines.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, VEGF, PD-1, tislelizumab, atezolizumab, durvalumab

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