Journal of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Oct 2023)
Evidence to Date: Clinical Utility of Tremelimumab in the Treatment of Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Abstract
Zunirah Ahmed,1 Sunyoung S Lee,2 David W Victor 3rd,1,3 Sudha Kodali1,3 1Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, USA; 2Department of Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Oncology, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA; 3Sherrie and Alan Conover Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, USACorrespondence: David W Victor, 3 rd, Sherrie and Alan Conover Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation, Houston Methodist Hospital, 6445 Main, Suite OPC 22.001, Houston, TX, 77030, USA, Email [email protected]: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and is associated with significant health care costs and burden. Management of HCC is guided based on the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) system and includes liver transplantation, surgical resection, and liver-directed and systemic therapies. In recent years, there have been significant advancements in understanding the immunogenicity of HCC and this has led to approval of different targeted agents as well as immunotherapy for advanced HCC. Tremelimumab is a cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) blocking antibody and has recently been approved in combination with durvalumab (a programmed death-ligand 1 [PDL1] inhibitor) as first-line therapy for advanced (Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Stage C) HCC. In this article, we review the different available systemic therapies for advanced HCC with special focus on the clinical utility of tremelimumab for the treatment of unresectable HCC.Keywords: unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, immunotherapy, CTLA4 antibody, targeted therapy
