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Ma YN, Jiang X, Song P, Tang W. Neoadjuvant therapies in resectable hepatocellular carcinoma: Exploring strategies to improve prognosis. Biosci Trends 2024; 18:21-41. [PMID: 38382930 DOI: 10.5582/bst.2023.01436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a challenging malignancy, often necessitates surgical intervention, notably liver resection. However, the high recurrence rate, reaching 70% within 5 years post-resection, significantly impacts patient outcomes. Neoadjuvant therapies aim to preoperatively address this challenge, reducing lesion size, improving surgical resection rates, deactivating potential micro-metastases, and ultimately lowering postoperative recurrence rates. This review concentrates on advances in research on and clinical use of neoadjuvant therapies for HCC, with particular attention to the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting programmed cell death-1 (PD-1), programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1), and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein-4 (CTLA-4). Ongoing clinical studies exploring immunotherapy combined with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), interventional therapy, radiotherapy, and other modalities offer promising insights into overcoming resistance to monotherapies. In summary, neoadjuvant therapies hold significant promise in terms of improving the prognosis for patients with HCC and enhancing long-term survival, particularly through innovative combination strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ya-Nan Ma
- National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hainan General Hospital, Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
| | - Xuemei Jiang
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hainan General Hospital, Hainan Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
| | - Peipei Song
- National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Wei Tang
- National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
- Haikou Affiliated Hospital of Central South University Xiangya School of Medicine, Haikou, China
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Fortuny M, Sanduzzi-Zamparelli M, Reig M. Systemic therapies in hepatocellular carcinoma: A revolution? United European Gastroenterol J 2024; 12:252-260. [PMID: 38267015 PMCID: PMC10954433 DOI: 10.1002/ueg2.12510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2024] Open
Abstract
The evolution in systemic therapies in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) signifies a strategy of high-cost, high-gain innovation that originated with sorafenib, despite its limited impact on tumor response. This strategic approach paved the way for the emergence of a second wave of the short-lived competitive advantage, exemplified by the incorporation of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab and tremelimumab plus durvalumab. In the context of safety concerns within the liver cancer domain, the IMBRAVE150 and HIMALAYA trials boldly incorporated bevacizumab and tremelimumab, respectively, demonstrating the continuation of the high-risk, high-reward innovation paradigm. This review delves into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis of systemic therapies in the field of HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Fortuny
- Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) Group, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain
- Liver Oncology Unit, Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Madrid, Spain
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marco Sanduzzi-Zamparelli
- Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) Group, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain
- Liver Oncology Unit, Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Madrid, Spain
| | - Maria Reig
- Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) Group, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain
- Liver Oncology Unit, Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Madrid, Spain
- Barcelona University, Barcelona, Spain
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Maino C, Vernuccio F, Cannella R, Franco PN, Giannini V, Dezio M, Pisani AR, Blandino AA, Faletti R, De Bernardi E, Ippolito D, Gatti M, Inchingolo R. Radiomics and liver: Where we are and where we are headed? Eur J Radiol 2024; 171:111297. [PMID: 38237517 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2024.111297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Revised: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 01/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
Hepatic diffuse conditions and focal liver lesions represent two of the most common scenarios to face in everyday radiological clinical practice. Thanks to the advances in technology, radiology has gained a central role in the management of patients with liver disease, especially due to its high sensitivity and specificity. Since the introduction of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), radiology has been considered the non-invasive reference modality to assess and characterize liver pathologies. In recent years, clinical practice has moved forward to a quantitative approach to better evaluate and manage each patient with a more fitted approach. In this setting, radiomics has gained an important role in helping radiologists and clinicians characterize hepatic pathological entities, in managing patients, and in determining prognosis. Radiomics can extract a large amount of data from radiological images, which can be associated with different liver scenarios. Thanks to its wide applications in ultrasonography (US), CT, and MRI, different studies were focused on specific aspects related to liver diseases. Even if broadly applied, radiomics has some advantages and different pitfalls. This review aims to summarize the most important and robust studies published in the field of liver radiomics, underlying their main limitations and issues, and what they can add to the current and future clinical practice and literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cesare Maino
- Department of Radiology, Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, Monza 20900, Italy.
| | - Federica Vernuccio
- Institute of Radiology, University Hospital of Padova, Padova 35128, Italy
| | - Roberto Cannella
- Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostics (BiND), University of Palermo, Palermo 90127, Italy
| | - Paolo Niccolò Franco
- Department of Radiology, Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, Monza 20900, Italy
| | - Valentina Giannini
- Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin 10126, Italy
| | - Michele Dezio
- Department of Radiology, Miulli Hospital, Acquaviva delle Fonti 70021, Bari, Italy
| | - Antonio Rosario Pisani
- Nuclear Medicine Unit, Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, University of Bari, Bari 70121, Italy
| | - Antonino Andrea Blandino
- Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostics (BiND), University of Palermo, Palermo 90127, Italy
| | - Riccardo Faletti
- Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin 10126, Italy
| | - Elisabetta De Bernardi
- Bicocca Bioinformatics Biostatistics and Bioimaging Centre - B4, University of Milano Bicocca, Milano 20100, Italy; School of Medicine, University of Milano Bicocca, Milano 20100, Italy
| | - Davide Ippolito
- Department of Radiology, Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, Monza 20900, Italy; School of Medicine, University of Milano Bicocca, Milano 20100, Italy
| | - Marco Gatti
- Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin 10126, Italy
| | - Riccardo Inchingolo
- Unit of Interventional Radiology, F. Miulli Hospital, Acquaviva delle Fonti 70021, Italy
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Qu S, Wu D, Hu Z. Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio and Early Tumor Shrinkage as Predictive Biomarkers in Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients Treated With Lenvatinib, PD-1 Inhibitors, in Combination With TACE. Technol Cancer Res Treat 2023; 22:15330338231206704. [PMID: 37849287 PMCID: PMC10585992 DOI: 10.1177/15330338231206704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2023] [Revised: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this prospective observational study was to investigate the relationship between pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and posttreatment early tumor shrinkage (ETS), and clinical outcomes in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC) who received lenvatinib, programmed death-1 inhibitors plus transcatheter arterial chemoembolization. Patients and Methods: A total of 63 uHCC patients were treated with this triple combination. Multivariate analyses to determine the independent factors associated with overall survival (OS) were employed. The link between NLR and clinical results was further analyzed. Furthermore, the predictive value of combining NLR with ETS should be investigated to stratify patients receiving treatment for survival benefits. Results: Progression-free survival and OS were 9.8 and 23.0 months, respectively, with a median follow-up of 20.8 months. On a multivariate analysis of OS, NLR was the only independent prognostic factor. Patients with NLR low (NLR < 3.2) had longer progression-free survival (19.3 vs 7.3 months, P < 0.001) and OS (28.9 vs 16.9 months, P < 0.001), higher objective response rate (86.7% vs 39.4%, P < 0.001), and a higher chance of achieving ETS ≥ 10% (ETS high) (73.3% vs 21.1%, P < 0.001) compared with patients with NLR high (NLR ≥ 3.2). The Spearman correlation analysis also showed the strong consistency between NLR and ETS (R2 = 0.6751). In the subgroup analysis, greater OS benefit was found in the NLR low/ETS high group than the NLR high/ETS low group (χ2 = 31.258, P < 0.001), while there was no survival difference for patients in the NLR low/ETS low group compared with in the NLR high/ETS high group (χ2 = 0.046, P = 0.830). Conclusion: NLR has the potential to identify which patients would benefit from this triple therapy, and when combined with ETS, it has the potential to provide greater predictive power in selecting the appropriate candidates for this combination treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuping Qu
- Soochow University Medical College, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
- Department of Hepatic Surgery, Third Affiliated Hospital of Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China
| | - Dong Wu
- Department of Hepatic Surgery, Third Affiliated Hospital of Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhiming Hu
- Soochow University Medical College, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
- Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China
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Giuffrida P, Celsa C, Antonucci M, Peri M, Grassini MV, Rancatore G, Giacchetto CM, Cannella R, Incorvaia L, Corsini LR, Morana P, La Mantia C, Badalamenti G, Brancatelli G, Cammà C, Cabibbo G. The Evolving Scenario in the Assessment of Radiological Response for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Era of Immunotherapy: Strengths and Weaknesses of Surrogate Endpoints. Biomedicines 2022; 10:2827. [PMID: 36359347 PMCID: PMC9687474 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10112827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2022] [Accepted: 11/02/2022] [Indexed: 08/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a challenging malignancy characterised by clinical and biological heterogeneity, independent of the stage. Despite the application of surveillance programs, a substantial proportion of patients are diagnosed at advanced stages when curative treatments are no longer available. The landscape of systemic therapies has been rapidly growing over the last decade, and the advent of immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has changed the paradigm of systemic treatments. The coexistence of the tumour with underlying cirrhosis exposes patients with HCC to competing events related to tumour progression and/or hepatic decompensation. Therefore, it is relevant to adopt proper clinical endpoints to assess the extent of treatment benefit. While overall survival (OS) is the most accepted endpoint for phase III randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and drug approval, it is affected by many limitations. To overcome these limits, several clinical and radiological outcomes have been used. For instance, progression-free survival (PFS) is a useful endpoint to evaluate the benefit of sequential treatments, since it is not influenced by post-progression treatments, unlike OS. Moreover, radiological endpoints such as time to progression (TTP) and objective response rate (ORR) are frequently adopted. Nevertheless, the surrogacy between these endpoints and OS in the setting of unresectable HCC (uHCC) remains uncertain. Since most of the surrogate endpoints are radiology-based (e.g., PFS, TTP, ORR), the use of standardised tools is crucial for the evaluation of radiological response. The optimal way to assess the radiological response has been widely debated, and many criteria have been proposed over the years. Furthermore, none of the criteria have been validated for immunotherapy in advanced HCC. The coexistence of the underlying chronic liver disease and the access to several lines of treatments highlight the urgent need to capture early clinical benefit and the need for standardised radiological criteria to assess cancer response when using ICIs in mono- or combination therapies. Here, we review the most commonly used clinical and radiological endpoints for trial design, as well as their surrogacy with OS. We also review the criteria for radiological response to treatments for HCC, analysing the major issues and the potential future perspectives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo Giuffrida
- Section of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Department of Health Promotion Sciences Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, PROMISE, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Ciro Celsa
- Section of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Department of Health Promotion Sciences Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, PROMISE, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
- Department of Surgical, Oncological, and Oral Sciences (Di.Chir.On.S.), University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Michela Antonucci
- Section of Radiology, Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostics (BiND), University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Marta Peri
- Department of Surgical, Oncological, and Oral Sciences (Di.Chir.On.S.), University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Maria Vittoria Grassini
- Section of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Department of Health Promotion Sciences Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, PROMISE, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Gabriele Rancatore
- Section of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Department of Health Promotion Sciences Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, PROMISE, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Carmelo Marco Giacchetto
- Section of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Department of Health Promotion Sciences Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, PROMISE, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Roberto Cannella
- Section of Radiology, Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostics (BiND), University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Lorena Incorvaia
- Department of Surgical, Oncological, and Oral Sciences (Di.Chir.On.S.), University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Lidia Rita Corsini
- Department of Surgical, Oncological, and Oral Sciences (Di.Chir.On.S.), University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Piera Morana
- Section of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Department of Health Promotion Sciences Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, PROMISE, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Claudia La Mantia
- Section of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Department of Health Promotion Sciences Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, PROMISE, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Badalamenti
- Department of Surgical, Oncological, and Oral Sciences (Di.Chir.On.S.), University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Brancatelli
- Section of Radiology, Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostics (BiND), University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Calogero Cammà
- Section of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Department of Health Promotion Sciences Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, PROMISE, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Cabibbo
- Section of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Department of Health Promotion Sciences Maternal and Infant Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties, PROMISE, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
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