Abushukair HM, Saeed A. Hepatocellular carcinoma and immunotherapy: Beyond immune checkpoint inhibitors. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2022; 14(6): 1210-1212 [PMID: 35949209 DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v14.i6.1210]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Anwaar Saeed, MD, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, The University of Kansas Cancer Center, 2330 Shawnee Mission Pkwy, Kansas City, KS 66205, United States. asaeed@kumc.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Letter to the Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jun 15, 2022; 14(6): 1210-1212 Published online Jun 15, 2022. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v14.i6.1210
Hepatocellular carcinoma and immunotherapy: Beyond immune checkpoint inhibitors
Hassan Mohammed Abushukair, Anwaar Saeed
Hassan Mohammed Abushukair, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan
Anwaar Saeed, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, The University of Kansas Cancer Center, Kansas City, KS 66205, United States
Author contributions: Abushukair HA drafted the manuscript and conceptualized the concepts; Saeed A conceptualized the core concepts and critically revised the draft.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Anwaar Saeed reports research grants from AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, Exelixis, KAHR Medical, and Incyte, and advisory board fees from AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, Exelixis, and Pfizer. The other author has no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Anwaar Saeed, MD, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, The University of Kansas Cancer Center, 2330 Shawnee Mission Pkwy, Kansas City, KS 66205, United States. asaeed@kumc.edu
Received: December 5, 2021 Peer-review started: December 5, 2021 First decision: December 27, 2021 Revised: December 29, 2021 Accepted: May 12, 2022 Article in press: May 12, 2022 Published online: June 15, 2022
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the deadliest and most common malignancies of the liver. Considering the rich immune background of carcinogenesis in HCC, efforts have been focused on further understanding the role of the immune system in tumor suppression and promotion. The utilization of immunotherapy in HCC has led to encouraging results that has translated to longer survival and better quality of life among patients. The development of novel HCC-tailored regimens such as vaccine therapy and adoptive cellular therapy coupled with a deeper understanding of biomarkers predictive of the response to immunotherapy will lead to better treatment outcomes.
Core Tip: Immunotherapy has changed the treatment landscape for solid cancers. In advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), immune checkpoint inhibitors have become the standard of care due to their efficacy and safety outcomes. However, primary and acquired resistance is a major issue in the treatment paradigm, and more research is still needed to understand and identify potential predictors of the response in HCC. Other immunotherapy modalities, such as vaccine therapy and adoptive cellular therapy, could play a prominent role in certain HCC subcohorts and are currently being investigated in clinical trial settings.
