With an estimated 500,000 new cases per year, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The incidence is rising in the west, largely due to an increasing incidence of hepatitis C virus infection [1]. The majority of HCC patients are diagnosed with disease too advanced for curative treatment. Only liver resection and liver transplantation are considered curative, with poor efficiency of other modalities such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), although this may provide a modest prolongation in survival; however, the relapse in the majority of these patients is inevitable [2]. An array of translational research and pilot clinical trials have revealed that adoptive immunotherapy’s are safe by patients with HCC, but they lack efficacy [3]. Now, we are in the new era of immunotherapy’s such as immune checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T strategies, which would bring benefit to the HCC patients.On September 22, 2017, the Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to nivolumab (OPDIVO, Bristol- Myers Squibb Co.) for the treatment of HCC in patients who have been previously treated with sorafenib. The approval was based on a 154-patient subgroup of CHECKMATE-040 (NCT 01658878), a multicenter, open-label trial conducted in patients with HCC and Child-Pugh. A cirrhosis who progressed on or were intolerant to sorafenib. Patients received nivolumab 3 mg/kg by intravenous infusion every two weeks. The confirmed overall response rate, as assessed by blinded independent central review using RECIST 1.1, was 14.3% (95% CI: 9.2, 20.8), with three complete responses and 19 partial responses. The response duration ranged from 3.2 to 38.2+ months; 91% of responders had responses lasting six months or longer and 55% had responses lasting 12 months or longer. Adverse reactions occurring in patients with HCC in CHECKMATE-040 were similar to those previously reported in product labelling, with the exception of a higher incidence of elevations in transaminases and bilirubin levels [4].
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