Clinical Therapy: HAIC Combined with Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors and Programmed Cell Death Protein-1 Inhibitors versus HAIC Alone for Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Purpose: The majority of new diagnoses of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) still pertain to unresectable cases. Currently, the combination therapy of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) inhibitors has become the mainstream treatment. According to multiple clinical guidelines, it is strongly advised to consider local therapy as the primary treatment choice for uHCC. This research was conducted to examine the safety and effectiveness of combining hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) with TKIs and PD-1 inhibitors for the treatment of uHCC.
Methods: Between 2015 and 2020, 208 HCC patients received HAIC alone or HAIC in combination with TKIs and PD-1 inhibitors. The overall survival(OS), and progression-free survival(PFS) and the best treatment response were compared between the two treatment groups. Propensity score matching (PSM)was used to minimize confounding bias.
Results: Among the enrolled patients, 116 patients (55.8%) received combination therapy, while 92 patients (44.2%) received HAIC alone. The baseline characteristics were similar between the two groups. After PSM, 82 pairs of well-matched liver cancer patients were selected; the overall response rate in the combination group trended better than that in the HAIC alone group. The hazard ratios (HRs) for OS and PFS of the combination approach compared to the HAIC-alone approach were 0.47 (95% CI, 0.322– 0.687; p< 0.001) and 0.58 (95% CI, 0.397– 0.848; p=0.005), respectively.
Conclusion: For uHCC patients, combination therapy can provide better OS and PFS compared to HAIC alone.

Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, TKIs, PD-1, HAIC, combination therapy