Regorafenib as a first-line agent alone or in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma efficacy and safety of patients: A real-world study.

person Yi Bai Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin, China info_outline Yi Bai, Jianfa Yu, Chuanliang Cheng, Dapeng Chen, Yamin Zhang

Authors person Yi Bai Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin, China info_outline Yi Bai, Jianfa Yu, Chuanliang Cheng, Dapeng Chen, Yamin Zhang Organizations Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin, China, Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Tianjin First Central Hospital，Nankai University, Tianjin, China, Nankai University, Tianjin, China, Tianjin medical University, Tianjin, China Abstract Disclosures Research Funding Other Government Agency Tianjin Natural Science Foundation (20JCYBJC01310 and 21JCYBJC00320), the Tianjin Science and technology project (19ZXDBSY00010), and the Tianjin Health Science and technology project (TJWJ2021ZD002 and ZC20218). Background: Results from the RESORCE-III RCT demonstrated that sequential sorafenib-regorafenib treatment significantly improved overall survival compared with the placebo group. However, there are no retrospective studies of regorafenib as a first-line agent for treating patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma in a real-world setting. Therefore, we aimed to explore the efficacy and safety of regorafenib as a first-line agent alone or in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in treating patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma in a real-world setting. Methods: We reviewed medical data from 48 patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with regorafenib as a first-line agent alone or combined with ICIs between December 2018 and February 2022. These patients were treated with regorafenib for at least 28 consecutive days (21 days on and 7 days off the drug). The progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR, RECIST 1.1 criteria) and disease control rate (DCR) were observed. Results: A total of 48 patients were enrolled in this study, 26(54.2%) receiving regorafenib as monotherapy and 22(45.8%) receiving the combination ICIs. The median age in the monotherapy group was 54 years (range 38-74), male/female (69.2%/30.8%), BCLC stage B/C (42.3%/57.7%), Child-Pugh A/B score (57.7%/42.3%); the median age in the combined ICIs group was 53 years (range 42-75), male/female (68.2%/ 31.8%), BCLC stage B/C (36.4%/63.6%), Child-Pugh A/B score (54.5%/45.5%). Median PFS (mPFS) was 7.7 months (95% CI:5.9-10.4) and median OS (mOS) was 16.7 months (95% CI:14.3-23.6) in 48 patients. In the regorafenib monotherapy group, mPFS was 5.9 months (95% CI:5.6-10.3) and mOS was 13.9 months (95% CI:13.5-22.5); in the combined ICIs group, mPFS was 7.8 months (95% CI:7.3-14.5) and mOS was 23.6 months (95% CI:16.6-NA). The ORR and DCR were 20.8% and 72.9% in the overall treatment group, 15.4% and 65.4% in the monotherapy group, and 27.3% and 81.8% in the combined ICIs treatment group, respectively. Among the adverse events, rates were 34.6% (9/26) and 36.4% (8/22) in the monotherapy and combined ICIs groups, respectively, with only one grade III/IV adverse event in the monotherapy group and no grade III/IV adverse event in the combined ICIs group. Conclusions: This retrospective, real-world, preliminary study demonstrates that regorafenib as a first-line agent alone or in combination with ICIs has a high safety profile and more prolonged survival in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, particularly in combination with ICIs.