Background: Early changes in alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) are a promising surrogate endpoint for systemic treatment outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Objectives: We sought to investigate the utility of AFP response across first-line sorafenib (1L SOR) and later-line checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) therapies.

Design: We conducted a multicenter, retrospective cohort study of patients with advanced HCC who received 1L SOR and any subsequent CPI.

Methods: The primary outcomes were overall survival (OS) and time on treatment (TOT). Pre-treatment AFP and the lowest AFP within 3 months of treatment initiation were used to calculate the percent change in AFP for each treatment. AFP response was defined as an AFP reduction by ⩾20% within 3 months, and AFP progression was defined as an increase in AFP by ⩾20% within 3 months. Patients with baseline AFP < 20 ng/mL were considered not evaluable for AFP change.

Results: Of 176 study patients, 46 (28%) received CPI after SOR, and 125 (71%) had a baseline AFP ⩾ 20. Patients who experienced AFP response on SOR had significantly longer OS and TOT than those who did not and those who were not evaluable (OS: median 689 vs 320 vs 452 days, log-rank  < 0.001; TOT: median log of days 5.2 vs 4.5 vs 4.9,  < 0.001). Patients with AFP progression following SOR had significantly shorter OS than those who did not and those who were not evaluable (median 304 vs 557 vs 452, log-rank  = 0.008). Similarly, patients with AFP response following CPI therapy had a significantly reduced risk of death compared with those who did not have an AFP response (hazard ratio 0.13, 95% confidence interval 0.03-0.60,  = 0.009).

Conclusion: Early AFP response with 1L SOR and any subsequent CPI was associated with longer OS and TOT, and early AFP progression was associated with shorter OS and TOT. These data support utilizing longitudinal AFP changes as a surrogate endpoint in HCC systemic therapy.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11574907PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17588359241297085DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

afp
9
changes alpha-fetoprotein
8
afp response
8
⩾20% 3 months
8
alpha-fetoprotein systemic
4
systemic therapy
4
therapy continuum
4
continuum advanced
4
advanced hepatocellular
4
hepatocellular carcinoma-a
4

Similar Publications

A 28-year-old male presented to his physician with a chief complaint of fever and cough. Contrastenhanced computed tomography revealed a 17×16×8 cm heterogeneous tumor in the anterior mediastinum, as well as right heart and inferior vena cava compression due to the tumor. He was referred to our hospital for close examination and treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aim: This study aimed to compare the prognostic performance of the risk models for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) receiving atezolizumab and bevacizumab (Atez/Bev) as first-line treatment.

Methods: Among 449 patients included in this retrospective multicenter study, we compared the prognostic performance of 13 risk models for the 12-month and 18-month survival status using area under the curve (AUC), net reclassification improvement (NRI), and relative integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) analysis. We also constructed a calibration plot to assess the fitness of each model.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: Extragonadal yolk sac tumour (YST) is rare, and may present a diagnostic challenge. YST differentiation was recently reported in some somatically derived tumours in the sinonasal location and in the female genital tract, together with a SMARCB1/INI1 loss. We report two paratesticular/inguinal tumours with striking morphological and immunohistochemical similarities with YST, further expanding the spectrum of extragonadal tumours with YST-like morphology and SMARCB1/INI1 loss.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Large hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is difficult to resect and accompanied by poor outcome. The aim was to evaluate the short-term and long-term outcomes of patients who underwent liver resection for large HCC, eventually drawing prediction models for short-term and long-term outcomes.

Methods: 1710 large HCC patients were recruited and randomly divided into the training (n = 1140) and validation (n = 570) cohorts in a 2:1 ratio.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: This study aims to investigate the clinicopathological and ultrasonography characteristics of combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CCA) and its correlation with microvascular invasion (MVI), as well as the predictive value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) imaging.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 57 patients diagnosed with cHCC-CCA between November 2017 and May 2023 at Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital. Among them, 27 patients were MVI-positive and 30 patients were MVI-negative, all of whom underwent preoperative CEUS within 2 weeks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!