Highlights
- •Immune checkpoint inhibitor-based combination immunotherapy demonstrated superior clinical benefit with tolerable toxicity in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.
- •Combination immunotherapy resulted in a significantly better overall survival and progression-free survival outcomes than sorafenib.
- •PD-1/L1 inhibitors plus anti-VEGF agents showed superiority of survival benefit than PD-1/L1 inhibitors plus CTLA-4 inhibitors.
Abstract
Background
Immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy did not show superiority of survival over
standard therapy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. The combination immunotherapy
including dual immune checkpoint inhibitors or combined with anti-VEGF agents have
become a trend, but not fully evaluated. This study aimed to evaluate and compare
distinct combination immunotherapy on efficacy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.
Methods
PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane databases were systematically searched
from inception to January 31, 2022. The primary endpoints were overall objective response
rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), six-month progression-free survival rate (PFSR6m)
and one-year overall survival rate (OSR1y).
Results
11 studies with 16 independent cohorts and 3342 patients were included in the meta-analysis.
Compared with first-line sorafenib, combination immunotherapy resulted in a significant
improvement in ORR (RR, 2.74; 95%CI, 1.55–4.85; p = 0.0006), PFS (HR, 0.57; 95%CI, 0.49–0.65; p<0.0001) and OS (HR, 0.65; 95%CI, 0.52–0.82; p = 0.0002). Based on RECIST 1.1, the pooled ORR, PFSR6m and OSR1y for combination
immunotherapy were 24.6% (95%CI: 20.3%-29.6%), 42.0% (95%CI: 34.2%-50.3%) and 61.8%
(95%CI: 57.7%-65.7%), respectively. In distinct combination regimens, PD-1/L1 inhibitors
plus anti-VEGF agents showed a significant superiority of clinical benefit than PD-1/L1
inhibitors plus CTLA-4 inhibitors (ORR: 25.2% vs 23.4%, p = 0.033; PFSR6m: 47.4% vs 23.2%, p<0.001; OSR1y: 65.1% vs 55.0%, p = 0.001).
Conclusions
This study was the first meta-analysis to demonstrate the better survival benefit
and tolerable toxicity of combination immunotherapy than standard therapy in advanced
hepatocellular carcinoma. Compared with PD-1/L1 inhibitors plus CTLA-4 inhibitors,
the regimens of PD-1/L1 inhibitors plus anti-VEGF agents may be associated with a
significantly better clinical benefit. The difference in long-term survival and response
population between two distinct combination regimens required further exploration.
Graphical abstract
Graphical Abstract
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 31, 2022
Accepted:
December 28,
2022
Received in revised form:
December 12,
2022
Received:
August 1,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
