Journal of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Sep 2021)

Current Landscape and Future Directions of Biomarkers for Immunotherapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

  • Gok Yavuz B,
  • Hasanov E,
  • Lee SS,
  • Mohamed YI,
  • Curran MA,
  • Koay EJ,
  • Cristini V,
  • Kaseb AO

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 8
pp. 1195 – 1207

Abstract

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Betul Gok Yavuz,1 Elshad Hasanov,2 Sunyoung S Lee,1 Yehia I Mohamed,1 Michael A Curran,3 Eugene J Koay,4 Vittorio Cristini,5,6 Ahmed O Kaseb1 1Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA; 2Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA; 3Department of Immunology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA; 4Department of Gastrointestinal Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA; 5Mathematics in Medicine Program, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA; 6Department of Imaging Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USACorrespondence: Ahmed O Kaseb Email [email protected]: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common liver cancer and one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in the world. Multiple immunotherapeutic approaches have been investigated to date, and immunotherapy has become the new standard of care therapy in HCC. However, the current role of immunotherapy in HCC remains non-curative. Given this context, a high priority for oncology is understanding the biomarkers that predict clinical response to immunotherapy, have the potential to improve patient selection to maximize the clinical benefit, and spare unnecessary toxicity. In this review, we summarize the key predictive and prognostic biomarkers investigated in immunotherapy clinical trials in HCC and the emerging biomarkers to serve as a roadmap for future clinical trials. Biomarkers from tumoral tissues including PDL-1 expression, tissue infiltrating lymphocytes, tumor mutational burden (TMB) and specific immune signatures, and from peripheral blood including neutrophil-to-lymphocytes ratio, platelet-to-lymphocytes ratio, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and specific cytokines, along with gut microbiota are among the studied biomarkers to date in the HCC era. More integrative approaches, including mathematical biomarkers to predict immunotherapy outcomes, are yet to be studied in HCC.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, immunotherapy, biomarker

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