Atezolizumab plus bevacizumab in patients with child-Pugh B advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

Atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (Ate/Bev) demonstrated promising efficacy and safety in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the phase III IMbrave150 trial. However, patients with Child-Pugh B HCC were excluded in the abovementioned prospective trial. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of Ate/Bev in patients with Child-Pugh B HCC.

This multicenter retrospective study included 36 patients with Child-Pugh B advanced HCC who received Ate/Bev at four cancer referral centers between May 2020 and August 2021. Comparative analyses were performed with an independent cohort of patients with Child-Pugh A HCC from the same registry (n = 133).

All patients received Ate/Bev as first-line systemic treatment for advanced HCC. The objective response and disease control rates of patients in the Child-Pugh groups B and A were 11.1% and 58.3% and 34.6% and 76.7%, respectively. The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 3.0 months [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.7-4.3) and 7.7 months (95% CI, 4.8-10.6) in the Child-Pugh B group, whereas the median PFS and OS were 9.6 months (95% CI, 5.1-14.2) and not reached (95% CI, not available) in the Child-Pugh A group, respectively. Compared to the Child-Pugh A group, grade 3-4 adverse events (AEs) were more common in the Child-Pugh B group (44.4% versus 15.8, p < 0.001), with the most frequent grade 3-4 AEs being gastrointestinal bleeding (n = 6, 16.7%), neutropenia (n = 5, 13.9%), and thrombocytopenia (n = 4, 11.1%).

In the Child-Pugh B subgroup of patients with advanced HCC, Ate/Bev treatment showed modest clinical activity. However, due to the increased frequency of serious AEs, careful evaluation of treatment response and AE management is required in this subgroup of patients.