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Systemic Therapy for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma in an Evolving Landscape

  • Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers (L Rajdev, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

Globally, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death and a malignancy with rising incidence. After sorafenib remaining the one and only FDA-approved therapy for the disease for many years, the past 2 years has seen the landscape of available treatments change dramatically. Multiple multi-targeted tyrosine kinases (TKIs) have demonstrated success and garnered FDA approval both in the first- (lenvatinib) and second-line (regorafenib) settings. Now, various questions regarding the sequencing of these therapies remain for investigation. Effective positioning of these TKIs will be crucial to optimization of outcomes for patients with HCC. Additionally, promising outcomes have been seen with a number of immunotherapies, and one such agent has been approved (nivolumab). Positioning of these immunotherapies in the landscape may or may not have impacts upon sequencing of all of the available therapies. Further studies are ongoing investigating such sequencing questions, in addition to more novel agents to combat this devastating disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic Florida, 4500 San Pablo Rd, Jacksonville, FL, 32224, USA

    Kabir Mody MD

  2. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa MD

  3. Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa MD

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Correspondence to Kabir Mody MD.

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Conflict of Interest

Kabir Mody has received research funding from Agios, Senwha Biosciences, Taiho, ArQule, Astra Zeneca, Genentech, Incyte, Tracon Pharmaceuticals, Medimmune, and Puma Biotechnology; and has received compensation from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Celgene, Eisai, Exelixis, Merrimack, and Vicus for service as a consultant.

Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa has received research funding from ActaBiologica, Agios, Array, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Beigene, BMS, Casi, Celgene, Exelixis, Genentech, Halozyme, Incyte, Lilly, Mabvax, Novartis, OncoQuest, Polaris Puma, QED, and Roche; has received compensation from 3DMedcare, Agios, Alignmed, Amgen, Antengene, Aptus, Aslan, Astellas, Astra Zeneca, Bayer, Beigene, Bioline, BMS, Boston Scientifc, Bridgebio, Carsgen, Celgene, Casi, Cipla,CytomX, Daiichi, Debio, Delcath, Eisai, Exelixis, Genoscience, Gilead, Halozyme, Hengrui, Inovio, Ipsen, Jazz, Jansen, Kyowa Kirin, LAM, Lilly, Loxo, Merck, Mina, Newlink Genetcis, Novella, Onxeo, PCI Biotech, Pfizer, Pharmacyte, Pharmacyclics, Pieris, QED, Redhill, Sanofi, Servier, Silenseed, Sillajen, Sobi, Targovax, Tekmira,Twoxar, Vicus, Yakult, and Yiviva for service as a consultant; and has patents for articles and methods for preventing and treating dermatologic adverse events issued and licensed.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers

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Mody, K., Abou-Alfa, G.K. Systemic Therapy for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma in an Evolving Landscape. Curr. Treat. Options in Oncol. 20, 3 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-019-0601-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-019-0601-1

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