Progression after Immunotherapy for Fibrolamellar Carcinoma

Fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC) is a rare malignancy of the liver that differs from typical hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in several aspects such as the absence of underlying liver disease and occurrence in younger patients. Even though the survival rates in FLC are slightly better than in typical HCC, the prognosis of metastatic FLC remains deleterious. Several reports suggest that systemic chemotherapy regimens can successfully be used to halt disease progression in FLC, while targeted tumor therapy with sorafenib seems to be of limited efficiency. However, results from controlled clinical trials investigating systemic therapies in FLC are virtually nonexistent. Therefore, the choice of treatment often relies on case series with limited numbers of patients. Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors is an emerging cancer therapy in several solid malignancies including HCC. Currently, there do not exist any reports on the use of checkpoint inhibitors in FLC.

Here, we describe a case of advanced FLC in a young man receiving immunotherapy, who progressed after 3 months of treatment - similar to 2 other patients with advanced FLC at our hospital.

While immunotherapy seems to be a promising treatment with limited side effects in several other tumor entities, there is currently no data supporting tumor response in FLC.