Systemic therapies in hepatocellular carcinoma: Existing and emerging biomarkers for treatment response

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common malignancy and the third most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Due to asymptomatic patients in the early stage, most patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage and lose the opportunity for radical resection. In addition, for patients who underwent procedures with curative intent for early-stage HCC, up to 70% of patients may have disease recurrence within 5 years. With the advent of an increasing number of systemic therapy medications, we now have more options for the treatment of HCC. However, data from clinical studies show that with different combinations of regimens, the objective response rate is approximately 40%, and most patients will not respond to treatment. In this setting, biomarkers for predicting treatment response are of great significance for precise treatment, reducing drug side effects and saving medical resources. In this review, we summarized the existing and emerging biomarkers in the literature, with special emphasis on the pathways and mechanism underlying the prediction value of those biomarkers for systemic treatment response.

Peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets predict the efficacy of TACE with or without PD-1 inhibitors in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a prospective clinical study

“…PD-1 inhibitors block the PD-1 receptors on the surface of T cells, prevent the binding of PD-1 to PD-L1 on the tumor surface, and activate the anti-tumor immunity of cytotoxic T cells (11). Although in recent years, predictive biomarkers based on PD-1/ PD-L1 expression, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and the genetic characteristics of tumor tissue have been reported (12,13), these markers have yet to be widely validated or used to predict clinical benefits, and thus clinical risk factors still serve as a foundation for treatment choices.…”