Responses to immunotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis cirrhosis.

Authors

null

Jeremy Chang

UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA

Jeremy Chang , Joseph S Ryan , Veeral Ajmera , Stephanie Ting , Pablo Tamayo , Adam Burgoyne

Organizations

UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, Scripps Health, San Diego, CA, UC San Diego, San Diego, CA, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, San Diego, CA, Univ Of California-San Diego School of Medcn, San Diego, CA

Research Funding

No funding received

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most rapidly growing cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States. Recent preclinical studies suggest that immunotherapy agents targeted at programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) do not lead to tumor regression in HCC with underlying nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). However, further clinical studies are needed to clarify the impact of immunotherapy on patients with NASH-related HCC. Methods: This was a single center, retrospective study analyzing the best responses to immunotherapy in patients with HCC and underlying cirrhosis due to NASH. Patients were divided into 2 groups: those with HCC related to NASH cirrhosis and those with HCC without NASH cirrhosis. All patients received immunotherapy, either as a single agent or in combination with other cancer-directed therapy, with response assessments conducted during their treatment courses. Results: A total of 79 patients were included in this study. There were 15 patients in the NASH cirrhosis-related HCC group and 64 patients in the HCC group without NASH cirrhosis. When analyzing the best disease responses to immunotherapy, 7 patients (46.7%) with HCC and NASH cirrhosis were found to have disease progression as their best responses compared to 7 patients (10.9%) who had HCC without NASH cirrhosis (risk ratio 4.27, p = 0.004). In addition, for the group without NASH cirrhosis, 57 patients (89.1%) experienced disease control (stable disease, partial response, or complete response) from immunotherapy versus 8 patients (53.3%) in the NASH cirrhosis-related HCC group (risk ratio 1.67, p = 0.004). There were no notable differences in patient age, gender, or immunotherapy agents received between the two groups, but there was a significantly greater proportion of patients of Hispanic ethnicity in the HCC group with NASH cirrhosis (p = 0.006, full patient characteristics listed in the table). However, when looking at all individuals in the study, patients of Hispanic ethnicity were not found to have a significantly higher risk of disease progression compared to non-Hispanic patients (p = 0.07). Conclusions: There were significantly higher rates of disease progression as the best response to immunotherapy in patients with HCC and NASH cirrhosis compared to those without NASH cirrhosis. With the expanded use of immunotherapy in HCC patients, further prospective studies are needed to clarify the impact of underlying liver disease etiology on immunotherapy response.

Patient characteristics.

Characteristics
HCC with NASH Cirrhosis
HCC without NASH Cirrhosis
p-value
Number of Patients
15
64

Median Age (Years)
68
65.5

Male Gender
8 (53.3%)
47 (73.4%)
0.210
Hispanic Ethnicity
10 (66.7%)
17 (26.6%)
0.006
Immunotherapy Agent



Atezolizumab
8 (53.3%)
27 (42.2%)
0.566
Nivolumab
6 (40%)
32 (50%)
0.572
Pembrolizumab
1 (6.7%)
5 (7.8%)
1

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2022 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Poster Session B: Cancers of the Pancreas, Small Bowel, and Hepatobiliary Tract

Track

Pancreatic Cancer,Hepatobiliary Cancer,Neuroendocrine/Carcinoid,Small Bowel Cancer

Sub Track

Patient-Reported Outcomes and Real-World Evidence

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2022.40.4_suppl.389

Abstract #

389

Poster Bd #

Online Only

Abstract Disclosures

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