Open AccessSystemic therapy of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma
Author(s) -
Peter R. Galle,
JeanFrançois Dufour,
Markus PeckRadosavljevic,
Jörg Trojan,
Arndt Vogel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
future oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.857
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1744-8301
pISSN - 1479-6694
DOI - 10.2217/fon-2020-0758
Subject(s) - sorafenib , medicine , hepatocellular carcinoma , systemic therapy , oncology , targeted therapy , expanded access , first line treatment , immunotherapy , first line , intensive care medicine , cancer , chemotherapy , breast cancer
For a decade, sorafenib remained the only approved first-line treatment and standard of care for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. The treatment landscape has been evolving rapidly over the past 2 years with the approval of additional first-and second-line systemic treatments, most of which are targeted therapies. The expected approval of immunotherapies constitutes a paradigm shift: for the first time in years, a checkpoint inhibitor in combination with a VEGF antibody recently outperformed sorafenib with regards to efficacy. The wider availability of systemic therapies increases the chance for longer overall survival but raises new questions concerning the role of local options, treatment choice and sequential treatment. Following an expert discussion at the German Cancer Congress 2020 in Berlin, this article aims to summarize the current evidence on and experience of treatment choice and sequence in first- and second-line therapy.