Pursuing efficacious systemic therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma

In 2020, combination treatments have pushed the efficacy of systemic therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to an unprecedented high, providing a solid base for the future pursuit of further improved, highly efficacious systemic therapies for HCC. Key advances Combination of atezolizumab (anti-PDL1 monoclonal antibody) and bevacizumab (anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody) has established a new standard of care for first-line systemic therapy of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) 4 . Ongoing studies of the combinations of immune checkpoint inhibitors and tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKIs), for example pembrolizumab plus lenvatinib, are showing similar or even higher efficacy for HCC than atezolizumab plus bevacizumab 7 . A combination of two immune checkpoint inhibitors, anti-PDL1 and anti-CTLA4, might offer similar efficacy as atezolizumab plus bevacizumab for HCC 9 .