Tumor Radiomic Features on Pretreatment MRI to Predict Response to Lenvatinib plus an Anti-PD-1 Antibody in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Multicenter Study.

Introduction: Lenvatinib plus an anti-PD-1 antibody has shown promising antitumor effects in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but with clinical benefit limited to a subset of patients. We developed and validated a radiomic-based model to predict objective response to this combination therapy in advanced HCC patients. Methods: Patients (N = 170) who received first-line combination therapy with lenvatinib plus an anti-PD-1 antibody were retrospectively enrolled from 9 Chinese centers; 124 and 46 into the training and validation cohorts, respectively. Radiomic features were extracted from pretreatment contrast-enhanced MRI. After feature selection, clinicopathologic, radiomic, and clinicopathologic-radiomic models were built using a neural network. The performance of models, incremental predictive value of radiomic features compared with clinicopathologic features and relationship between radiomic features and survivals were assessed. Results: The clinicopathologic model modestly predicted objective response with an AUC of 0.748 (95% CI: 0.656-0.840) and 0.702 (95% CI: 0.547-0.884) in the training and validation cohorts, respectively. The radiomic model predicted response with an AUC of 0.886 (95% CI: 0.815-0.957) and 0.820 (95% CI: 0.648-0.984), respectively, with good calibration and clinical utility. The incremental predictive value of radiomic features to clinicopathologic features was confirmed with a net reclassification index of 47.9% (p < 0.001) and 41.5% (p = 0.025) in the training and validation cohorts, respectively. Furthermore, radiomic features were associated with overall survival and progression-free survival both in the training and validation cohorts, but modified albumin-bilirubin grade and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio were not. Conclusion: Radiomic features extracted from pretreatment MRI can predict individualized objective response to combination therapy with lenvatinib plus an anti-PD-1 antibody in patients with unresectable or advanced HCC, provide incremental predictive value over clinicopathologic features, and are associated with overall survival and progression-free survival after initiation of this combination regimen.

Radiographic and α-fetoprotein response predict pathologic complete response to immunotherapy plus a TKI in hepatocellular carcinoma: a multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: Pathologic complete response (pCR) following preoperative systemic therapy is associated with improved outcomes after subsequent liver transplant/resection in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the relationship between radiographic and histopathological response remains unclear. METHODS: We retrospectively examined patients with initially unresectable HCC who received tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) plus anti-programmed death 1 (PD-1) therapy before undergoing liver resection between March 2019 and September 2021 across 7 hospitals in China. Radiographic response was evaluated using mRECIST. A pCR was defined as no viable tumor cells in resected samples. RESULTS: We included 35 eligible patients, of whom 15 (42.9%) achieved pCR after systemic therapy. After a median follow-up of 13.2 months, tumors recurred in 8 non-pCR and 1 pCR patient. Before resection, there were 6 complete responses, 24 partial responses, 4 stable disease cases, and 1 progressive disease case, per mRECIST. Predicting pCR by radiographic response yielded an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.727 (95% CI: 0.558-0.902), with an optimal cutoff value of 80% reduction in the enhanced area in MRI (called major radiographic response), which had a 66.7% sensitivity, 85.0% specificity, and a 77.1% diagnostic accuracy. When radiographic response was combined with α-fetoprotein response, the AUC was 0.926 (95% CI: 0.785-0.999); the optimal cutoff value was 0.446, which had a 91.7% sensitivity, 84.6%, specificity, and an 88.0% diagnostic accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with unresectable HCC receiving combined TKI/anti-PD 1 therapy, major radiographic response alone or combined with α-fetoprotein response may predict pCR.

Comparison of the long-term outcomes of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma within the Milan criteria treated by ablation, resection, or transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Liver transplantation (LT), resection (LR), and ablation (LA) are three curative-intent treatment options for patients with early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We aimed to develop a prognostic calculator to compare the long-term outcomes following each of these therapies. METHODS: A total of 976 patients with HCC within the Milan criteria who underwent LT, LR, and LA between 2009 and 2019 from four institutions were evaluated. Multistate competing risks prediction models for recurrence-free survival (RFS), recurrence within the Milan criteria (RWM), and HCC-specific survival (HSS) were derived to develop a prognostic calculator. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 51 months, 420 (43%) patients developed recurrence. In the multivariate analysis, larger tumor size, multinodularity, older age, male, higher alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), higher albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade, and the presence of portal hypertension were significantly associated with higher recurrence and decreased survival rates. The RFS and HSS were both significantly higher among patients treated by LT than by LR or LA and significantly higher between patients treated by LR than by LA (all p < 0.001). For multinodular HCC ≤3 cm, although LT had better RFS and HSS than LR or LA, LA was noninferior to LR. An online prognostic calculator was then developed based on the preoperative clinical factors that were independently associated with outcomes to evaluate RFS, RWM, and HSS at different time intervals for all three treatment options. CONCLUSIONS: Although LT resulted in the best recurrence and survival outcomes, LR and LA also offered durable long-term alternatives. This prognostic calculator is a useful tool for clinicians to guide an informed and personalized discussion with patients based on their tumor biology and liver function.

Pemigatinib in previously treated Chinese patients with locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma carrying FGFR2 fusions or rearrangements: A phase II study.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the antitumor activity and safety of pemigatinib in previously treated Chinese patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma and fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) fusions or rearrangements. BACKGROUND: Pemigatinib provided clinical benefits for previously treated patients with cholangiocarcinoma carrying FGFR2 fusions or rearrangements and was approved for this indication in multiple countries. METHODS: In this ongoing, multicenter, single-arm, phase II study, adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma carrying centrally confirmed FGFR2 fusions or rearrangements who had progressed on ≥1 systemic therapy received 13.5 mg oral pemigatinib once daily (3-week cycle; 2 weeks on, 1 week off) until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or consent withdrawal. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) assessed by an independent radiology review committee. RESULTS: As of January 29, 2021, 31 patients were enrolled. The median follow-up was 5.1 months (range, 1.5-9.3). Among 30 patients with FGFR2 fusions or rearrangements evaluated for efficacy, 15 patients achieved partial response (ORR, 50.0%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 31.3-68.7); 15 achieved stable disease, contributing to a disease control rate of 100% (95% CI, 88.4-100). The median time to response was 1.4 months (95% CI, 1.3-1.4), the median duration of response was not reached, and the median progression-free survival was 6.3 months (95% CI, 4.9-not estimable [NE]). Eight (25.8%) of 31 patients had ≥grade 3 treatment-emergent adverse events. Hyperphosphatemia, hypophosphatasemia, nail toxicities, and ocular disorders were mostly

A Novel Nomogram Model to Predict the Recurrence-Free Survival and Overall Survival of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background: Treatments for patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) include liver transplantation (LT), liver resection (LR), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and microwave ablation (MWA), are critical for their long-term survival. However, a computational model predicting treatment-independent prognosis of patients with HCC, such as overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS), is yet to be developed, to our best knowledge. The goal of this study is to identify prognostic factors associated with OS and RFS in patients with HCC and develop nomograms to predict them, respectively. Methods: We retrospectively retrieved 730 patients with HCC from three hospitals in China and followed them up for 3 and 5 years after invasive treatment. All enrolled patients were randomly divided into the training cohort and the validation cohort with a 7:3 ratio, respectively. Independent prognostic factors associated with OS and RFS were determined by the multivariate Cox regression analysis. Two nomogram prognostic models were built and evaluated by concordance index (C-index), calibration curves, area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve, time-dependent area under the ROC curve (AUC), the Kaplan-Meier survival curve, and decision curve analyses (DCAs), respectively. Results: Prognostic factors for OS and RFS were identified, and nomograms were successfully built. Calibration discrimination was good for both the OS and RFS nomogram prediction models (C-index: 0.750 and 0.746, respectively). For both nomograms, the AUC demonstrated outstanding predictive performance; the DCA shows that the model has good decision ability; and the calibration curve demonstrated strong predictive power. The nomograms successfully discriminated high-risk and low-risk patients with HCC associated with OS and RFS. Conclusions: We developed nomogram survival prediction models to predict the prognosis of HCC after invasive treatment with acceptable accuracies in both training and independent testing cohorts. The models may have clinical values in guiding the selection of clinical treatment strategies.

PRMT5 confers lipid metabolism reprogramming, tumour growth and metastasis depending on the SIRT7-mediated desuccinylation of PRMT5 K387 in tumours.

The protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5), which is highly expressed in tumour tissues, plays a crucial role in cancer development. However, the mechanism by which PRMT5 promotes cancer growth is poorly understood. Here, we report that PRMT5 contributes to lipid metabolism reprogramming, tumour growth and metastasis depending on the SIRT7-mediated desuccinylation of PRMT5 K387 in tumours. Mass spectrometric analysis identified PRMT5 lysine 387 as its succinylation site. Moreover, the desuccinylation of PRMT5 K387 enhances the methyltransferase activity of PRMT5. SIRT7 catalyses the desuccinylation of PRMT5 in cells. The SIRT7-mediated dessuccinylation of PRMT5 lysine 387 fails to bind to STUB1, decreasing PRMT5 ubiquitination and increasing the interaction between PRMT5 and Mep50, which promotes the formation of the PRMT5-Mep50 octamer. The PRMT5-Mep50 octamer increases PRMT5 methyltransferase activity, leading to arginine methylation of SREBP1a. The symmetric dimethylation of SREBP1a increases the levels of cholesterol, fatty acid, and triglyceride biogenesis in the cells, escaping degradation through the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Functionally, the desuccinylation of PRMT5 K387 promotes lipid metabolism reprogramming, tumour growth and metastasis in vitro and in vivo in tumours.

Comparison of Liver Transplantation and Liver Resection for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients with Portal Vein Tumor Thrombus Type I and Type II.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of liver transplantation (LT) and liver resection (LR) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) and to investigate risk factors affecting prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 94 HCC patients with PVTT type I (segmental PVTT) and PVTT type II (lobar PVTT) were involved and divided into LR (n=47) and LT groups (n=47). Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared before and after inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Prognostic factors for RFS and OS were explored. RESULTS: Two treatment groups were well-balanced using IPTW. In the entire cohort, LT provided a better prognosis than LR. Among patients with PVTT type I, RFS was better with LT (p=0.039); OS was not different significantly between LT and LR (p=0.093). In subgroup analysis of PVTT type I patients with α-fetoprotein (AFP) levels >200 ng/mL, LT elicited significantly longer median RFS (18.0 months vs. 2.1 months, p=0.022) and relatively longer median OS time (23.6 months vs. 9.8 months, p=0.065). Among patients with PVTT type II, no significant differences in RFS and OS were found between LT and LR (p=0.115 and 0.335, respectively). Multivariate analyses showed treatment allocation (LR), tumor size (>5 cm), AFP and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels to be risk factors of RFS and treatment allocation (LR), AFP and AST as risk factors for OS. CONCLUSION: LT appeared to afford a better prognosis for HCC with PVTT type I than LR, especially in patients with AFP levels >200 ng/mL.

The efficacy of combination of induction chemotherapy and irreversible electroporation ablation for patients with locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a non-thermal focal therapy that utilizes high voltage electric pulses to permanently rupture the cellular membrane and induce cell death. In this multi-center study, we evaluated the safety and efficacy of IRE in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). METHODS: From 2012 to 2015, we performed laparotomic and laparoscopic IRE in a total of 70 patients with stage III LAPC. Either gemcitabine-based or TS-1 (Tegafur, Gimeracil, and Oteracil) chemotherapy was applied for at least 3 months before the IRE. RESULTS: No IRE-related deaths occurred. A median follow-up of 28.1 months showed that six patients (8.6%) experienced local recurrence and 24 (34%) experienced distant progression. The overall median survival from the time of treatment was 22.6 months, and the progression-free survival (PFS) was 15.4 months. The overall survival in the patients who used gemcitabine-based reagents was 19.1 months and that of those who used TS-1 was 28.7 months. The PFS for these two groups were 13.2 months and 26.4 months; the difference is significant. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that IRE is safe and effective for the control of LAPC. We surmise that the addition of IRE to a chemotherapy regimen may provide a survival advantage.

Shanghai Score: A Prognostic and Adjuvant Treatment-evaluating System Constructed for Chinese Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma after Curative Resection.

BACKGROUND: For Chinese patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), surgical resection is the most important treatment to achieve long-term survival for patients with an early-stage tumor, and yet the prognosis after surgery is diverse. We aimed to construct a scoring system (Shanghai Score) for individualized prognosis estimation and adjuvant treatment evaluation. METHODS: A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was constructed based on 4166 HCC patients undergoing resection during 2001-2008 at Zhongshan Hospital. Age, hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis B e antigen, partial thromboplastin time, total bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, γ-glutamyltransferase, α-fetoprotein, tumor size, cirrhosis, vascular invasion, differentiation, encapsulation, and tumor number were finally retained by a backward step-down selection process with the Akaike information criterion. The Harrell's concordance index (C-index) was used to measure model performance. Shanghai Score is calculated by summing the products of the 14 variable values times each variable's corresponding regression coefficient. Totally 1978 patients from Zhongshan Hospital undergoing resection during 2009-2012, 808 patients from Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital during 2008-2010, and 244 patients from Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital during 2010-2011 were enrolled as external validation cohorts. Shanghai Score was also implied in evaluating adjuvant treatment choices based on propensity score matching analysis. RESULTS: Shanghai Score showed good calibration and discrimination in postsurgical HCC patients. The bootstrap-corrected C-index (confidence interval [CI]) was 0.74 for overall survival (OS) and 0.68 for recurrence-free survival (RFS) in derivation cohort (4166 patients), and in the three independent validation cohorts, the CI s for OS ranged 0.70-0.72 and that for RFS ranged 0.63-0.68. Furthermore, Shanghai Score provided evaluation for adjuvant treatment choices (transcatheter arterial chemoembolization or interferon-α). The identified subset of patients at low risk could be ideal candidates for curative surgery, and subsets of patients at moderate or high risk could be recommended with possible adjuvant therapies after surgery. Finally, a web server with individualized outcome prediction and treatment recommendation was constructed. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the largest cohort up to date, we established Shanghai Score - an individualized outcome prediction system specifically designed for Chinese HCC patients after surgery. The Shanghai Score web server provides an easily accessible tool to stratify the prognosis of patients undergoing liver resection for HCC.

Adjuvant interferon for early or late recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma and mortality from hepatocellular carcinoma following curative treatment: A meta-analysis with comparison of different types of hepatitis.

Adjuvant interferon (IFN) therapy following curative treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been extensively investigated; however, the clinical benefits with different hepatitis backgrounds remain unclear. Medline, Embase, PubMed and the Cochrane Library databases were searched to identify randomized trials and cohort studies that enrolled HCC patients who received curative surgery or ablation therapy followed by IFN and control subjects; the studies were required to include data on early or late recurrence and mortality rates of HCC. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) associated with HCC (HBV-HCC) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) associated with HCC (HCV-HCC) were separately analyzed and recurrence, mortality and clinicopathological factors were compared. A total of 14 studies (9 randomized trials and 5 cohort studies, including 1,385 patients in total) were eligible for meta-analysis. IFN was found to decrease mortality and early recurrence rates, but exerted no effect on late recurrence rate. The effect of IFN differed between HBV-HCC and HCV-HCC cases. In HCV-HCC, IFN significantly reduced mortality as well as recurrence rates. However, in HBV-HCC patients, IFN reduced mortality rather than recurrence rates, although it also reduced the recurrence rate in certain subgroups. In conclusion, the effect of adjuvant IFN on postoperative recurrence differed between HBV-HCC and HCV-HCC cases; therefore, different strategies with adjuvant IFN should be used to treat HCC with different hepatitis backgrounds.

Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of outcomes for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing TAE combined with Sorafenib.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic significance of blood NLR in patients with intermediate-advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who received transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) combined with Sorafenib. A total of 40 patients with intermediate-advanced HCC from January 1, 2010, through May 31, 2013, treated with concurrent TAE in combination with Sorafenib were admitted to this study in our hospital. Potential prognostic factors, including serum NLR, were analyzed. The pretreatment mean NLR was 3.0; 21 (52.5 %) patients with elevated high NLR (>3.0). The median survival of patients with a high NLR was 14 months (95 % CI 10.1-17.9 months) compared with 26 months (95 % CI 17.4-34.6 months) for patients with a low NLR; a significant difference was found in overall survival (P = 0 0.001). Barcelona Clinical Liver Cancer staging classification and NLR >3.0 were all predictors of poorer over survival. Multivariate analysis showed that high NLR was independent factors associated with worse survival. A high periprocedural NLR independently predicts poor survival in patients with unresectable HCC undergoing TAE combined with Sorafenib.

Sorafenib down-regulates expression of HTATIP2 to promote invasiveness and metastasis of orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma tumors in mice.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Antiangiogenic agents can sometimes promote tumor invasiveness and metastasis, but little is known about the effects of the antiangiogenic drug sorafenib on progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: Sorafenib was administered orally (30 mg · kg(-1) · day(-1)) to mice with orthotopic tumors grown from HCC-LM3, SMMC7721, or HepG2 cells. We analyzed survival times of mice, along with tumor growth, metastasis within liver and to lung, and induction of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Polymerase chain reaction arrays were used to determine the effects of sorafenib on gene expression patterns in HCC cells. We analyzed regulation of HIV-1 Tat interactive protein 2 (HTATIP2) by sorafenib and compared levels of this protein in tumor samples from 75 patients with HCC (21 who received sorafenib after resection and 54 who did not). RESULTS: Sorafenib promoted invasiveness and the metastatic potential of orthotopic tumors grown from SMMC7721 and HCC-LM3 cells but not from HepG2 cells. In gene expression analysis, HTATIP2 was down-regulated by sorafenib. HCC-LM3 cells that expressed small hairpin RNAs against HTATIP2 (knockdown) formed less invasive tumors in mice following administration of sorafenib than HCC-LM3 without HTATIP2 knockdown. Alternatively, HepG2 cells that expressed transgenic HTATIP2 formed more invasive tumors in mice following administration of sorafenib. Sorafenib induced the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in HCC cell lines, which was associated with expression of HTATIP2. Sorafenib regulated expression of HTATIP2 via Jun-activated kinase (JAK) and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)3 signaling. Sorafenib therapy prolonged recurrence-free survival in patients who expressed lower levels of HTATIP2 compared with higher levels. CONCLUSIONS: Sorafenib promotes invasiveness and the metastatic potential of orthotopic tumors from HCC cells in mice, down-regulating expression of HTATIP2 via JAK-STAT3 signaling.