Hepatocellular Carcinoma Video Perspectives

In a video interview, Thomas A. Abrams, MD, head of The Liver Cancer Center at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, senior physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, discussed:

• data from the IMbrave150 study that showed first line treatment with atezolizumab (Tecentriq, Genentech) plus bevacizumab (Avastin, Genentech) was a “game-changer” in HCC and was effective and well-tolerated compared with sorafenib (Nexavar, Bayer);
• changing risk factors for developing HCC over time – from alcoholic liver disease and viral hepatitis to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity and diabetes;
• his collaborative research underway at Dana-Farber’s Liver Cancer Center to develop and follow a cohort of patients who are at high risk for developing HCC and to learn more about the early molecular changes that lead to the disease;
• strategies for improving early detection, such as an experimental blood test looking at viral signatures and looking at circulating tumor DNA;
• the “rich pipeline” in HCC, with studies expecting to yield positive data on numerous combination treatments and “an explosion” of new kinds of treatments further down the pipeline like adoptive cell therapies, protein/peptide-based vaccines and CAR T-cell treatments;
• prioritizing liver transplantation and other curative means above medical treatment in HCC when possible; and
• the need for earlier detection and intervention, and ways to convert patients in the metastatic, advanced setting to patients who are now curable.