Neoadjuvant therapy: Dawn of reducing the high post-surgery recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 2 Summary of neoadjuvant systemic antitumor treatment studies in hepatocellular carcinoma in the last five years

Disease	HCC stage/liver function	Treatment arms (n)	Neoadjuvant duration (weeks)	Preoperative stopping time (weeks)	Median follow-up (months)	Primary endpoints findings	Ref.
Resectable HCC	AJCC stage Ib, II, and IIIb	Neoadjuvant cemiplimab (21)	6	4	NA	Significant tumor necrosis: 20% (4/20)	Marron et al[26]
Locally advanced resectable HCC	Child-Pugh A	Neoadjuvant cabozantinib + nivolumab (15)	8	4	12	AEs: 93.3% (14/15)	Ho et al[27]
Resectable HCC	CNLC IIb/IIIa	Neoadjuvant camrelizumab + apatinib (18)	6	7	12	MPR: 17.6% (3/18); pCR: 5.9% (1/18)	Xia et al[28]
Resectable HCC	Child-Pugh A	Neoadjuvant nivolumab + ipilimumab (14) vs nivolumab (13)	6	NA	24.6	Grade 3 AEs: 43% (6/14) vs 23% (3/13)	Kaseb et al[29]

HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; AJCC: American Joint Committee on Cancer; CNLC: China Liver Cancer Stage; AEs: Adverse events; MPR: Major pathological response; NA: Not available.