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LBA101 Background: Overexpression of PD-L1 in HCC has a poor prognosis. Safety and preliminary antitumor efficacy of nivolumab, a fully human IgG4 monoclonal antibody PD-1 inhibitor, was evaluated in a multiple ascending-dose, phase I/II study in patients (pts) with HCC. Methods: Pts with histologically confirmed advanced HCC with Child-Pugh (CP) score ≤ B7 and progressive disease (PD) on, intolerant of, or refusing sorafenib were enrolled. Dose escalation occurred in parallel cohorts based on etiology: no active hepatitis virus infection or virus-infected HCC pts. Pts received nivolumab 0.1 – 10 mg/kg intravenously for up to two years. The primary endpoint was safety. Secondary endpoints included antitumor activity using mRECIST criteria, pharmacokinetics, and immunogenicity. Results: The study has enrolled 41 pts with a CP score of 5 (n = 35) or 6 (n = 6), ECOG score of 0 (n = 26) or 1 (n = 15), 73% with extrahepatic metastasis and/or portal vein invasion, and 77% with prior sorafenib use. Eighteen pts remain on study, and 23 discontinued treatment due to PD (n = 17), complete response (CR; n = 2), drug-related adverse events (AEs; n = 2) and non-drug–related AEs (n = 2). Drug-related AEs of any grade occurred in 29 pts (71%; 17% grade 3/4), with ≥ 10% of pts experiencing aspartate aminotransferase (AST) increase and rash (each 17%), alanine aminotransferase(ALT) and lipase increase (each 15%), and amylase increase (12%). Grade 3 and 4 AEs ≥ 5% were AST increase (12%), ALT increase (10%) and lipase increase (5%). A dose-limiting toxicity occurred in an uninfected pt at 10 mg/kg; no maximum tolerated dose was defined in any cohort. Response was evaluable in 39 pts: 2 CR (5%) and 7 partial responses (PR; 18%). Response duration was 14–17+ months for CR, < 1–8+ months for PR, and 1.5–17+ months for stable disease (SD). Overall survival (OS) rate at 6 months is 72%. Conclusions: Nivolumab has a manageable AE profile and produced durable responses across all dose levels and HCC cohorts, with a favorable 6-month OS rate. Updated safety, antitumor activity, and biomarker data will be presented. Clinical trial information: NCT01658878. [Table: see text]

Purpose: There is an unmet need for treatment options in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Sorafenib is currently the only approved systemic treatment for HCC. Refametinib, an oral, allosteric MEK inhibitor, has demonstrated antitumor activity in combination with sorafenib in vitro and in vivo. A phase II study evaluated efficacy and safety of refametinib plus sorafenib in Asian patients with HCC (NCT01204177).Experimental Design: Eligible patients received twice-daily refametinib 50 mg plus twice-daily sorafenib 200 mg (morning)/400 mg (evening), with dose escalation to sorafenib 400 mg twice daily from cycle 2 if no grade !2 hand-foot skin reaction, fatigue, or gastrointestinal toxicity occurred. Primary efficacy endpoint: disease control rate. Secondary endpoints: time to progression, overall survival, pharmacokinetic assessment, biomarker analysis, safety, and tolerability.Results: Of 95 enrolled patients, 70 received study treatment. Most patients had liver cirrhosis (82.9%) and hepatitis B viral infection (75.7%). Disease control rate was 44.8% (primary efficacy analysis; n ¼ 58). Median time to progression was 122 days, median overall survival was 290 days (n ¼ 70). Best clinical responders had RAS mutations; majority of poor responders had wild-type RAS. Most frequent drug-related adverse events were diarrhea, rash, aspartate aminotransferase elevation, vomiting, and nausea. Dose modifications due to adverse events were necessary in almost all patients.Conclusions: Refametinib plus sorafenib showed antitumor activity in patients with HCC and was tolerated at reduced doses by most patients. Frequent dose modifications due to grade 3 adverse events may have contributed to limited treatment effect. Patients with RAS mutations appear to benefit from refametinib/sorafenib combination. Clin Cancer Res; 20(23); 5976-85. Ó2014 AACR.

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Refametinib, an oral MEK inhibitor, has demonstrated antitumor activity in combination with sorafenib in patients with -mutated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Two phase II studies evaluated the efficacy of refametinib monotherapy and refametinib plus sorafenib in patients with-mutant unresectable or metastatic HCC. Eligible patients with mutations of cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) determined by beads, emulsion, amplification, and magnetics technology received twice-daily refametinib 50 mg ± sorafenib 400 mg. Potential biomarkers were assessed in ctDNA via next-generation sequencing (NGS). Of 1,318 patients screened, 59 (4.4%) had a mutation, of whom 16 received refametinib and 16 received refametinib plus sorafenib. With refametinib monotherapy, the objective response rate (ORR) was 0%, the disease control rate (DCR) was 56.3%, overall survival (OS) was 5.8 months, and progression-free survival (PFS) was 1.9 months. With refametinib plus sorafenib, the ORR was 6.3%, the DCR was 43.8%, OS was 12.7 months, and PFS was 1.5 months. In both studies, time to progression was 2.8 months. Treatment-emergent toxicities included fatigue, hypertension, and acneiform rash. Twenty-seven patients had ctDNA samples available for NGS. The most frequently detected mutations were in (63.0%), (48.1%), and β-catenin (; 37.0%). Prospective testing for family mutations using ctDNA was a feasible, noninvasive approach for large-scale mutational testing in patients with HCC. A median OS of 12.7 months with refametinib plus sorafenib in this small population of-mutant patients may indicate a synergistic effect between sorafenib and refametinib-this preliminary finding should be further explored. .