"Progressive liver cancer confirms preservation of liver function with immuno-cancer therapy"

Jul 02, 2024

In patients with advanced liver cancer, when each treatment was discontinued due to disease progression or side effects, it was confirmed that the liver function in the atezolizumab-bevacizumab treatment group was relatively better preserved. As a result of confirming the Child-Pugh score (CPS), a representative indicator of liver function, the atezolizumab-bevacizumab treatment group (AB) scored 6 points and the renbatinib treatment group (LEN) scored 7. CPS indicates a poor liver condition with a higher total score, and a score of 7 or more means a poor liver condition. The proportion of patients receiving follow-up chemotherapy, which is chemotherapy attempted as the next step after the first treatment, was also significantly higher in the atezolizumab-bevacizumab treatment group. Data provision = Seoul St. Mary's Hospital

Immuno-chemotherapy for advanced liver cancer patients has been found to increase survival rates in favor of preserving liver function. This is the result of the first large-scale multicenter clinical study in Korea that revealed the effectiveness of a new standard treatment, atetzolizumab-bevacizumab combination immuno-cancer therapy.

Atezolizumab-bevacizumab combination therapy is currently recommended as the first-line treatment for patients with unresectable advanced liver cancer. However, there was a disadvantage that the effect was confirmed only in some patients around 30%, and its use was restricted in patients with high risk of organ transplantation, autoimmune disease, and bleeding. Renbatinib treatment is also a first-line anticancer treatment that can be used now, but there has been controversy due to the conflicting results of comparing the effects of the two treatments.

A team of professors from Sung Pil-soo (corresponding author) and Han Ji-won (first author) of the gastroenterology department at the Catholic University of Korea's Seoul St. Mary's Hospital analyzed advanced liver cancer patients (169 patients with atezolizumab-bevacizumab combination therapy and 177 patients with renbatinib treatment) at eight Catholic Medical Center, including Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, and compared the effectiveness of each treatment and related clinical factors. As a result of the analysis, the atezolizumab-bevacizumab treatment group had a significantly higher overall survival (OS) than the renbatinib treatment group.

A detailed analysis was performed to account for these differences in survival rates. As a result, when each treatment was discontinued due to disease progression or side effects, it was confirmed that the liver function of the atezolizumab-bevacizumab treatment group was better preserved, and that it also affected follow-up treatment after the first treatment discontinuation.

Professor Han Ji-won said, `Even in a single tumor, liver cancer has heterogeneous characteristics depending on the site, the immune response itself is limited, and the patient's liver function and clinical characteristics have a wide variety of characteristics"The results of this study will provide important clues to selecting drugs that can bring the best prognosis for patients."

Professor Seong Jae-soo "In particular, many patients with liver cancer often have chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis, so it is difficult to treat the liver function because it has already been deteriorated, so it is necessary to consider the treatment factors that preserve liver function."," he stressed.

The findings were published in the recent issue of the international journal Frontiers in Oncology.

Professor Seong-Essential (left) and Professor Han Ji-won

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"Progressive liver cancer confirms preservation of liver function with immuno-cancer therapy"

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