Prolonged response to Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors followed by Immunotherapy in metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma: A rare case report

The overall prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is dismal and 5-year survival rate is 14.8%. We report a case of HCC coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and tumor thrombosis in the portal vein that was initially started on sorafenib followed by lenvatinib and nivolumab. On radiological imaging, there was a good partial response (PR) after starting nivolumab. A female 56 years of age presented with HCC coinfection with HCV, tumor thrombosis growing to the right portal vein. She received 6 months of sorafenib starting from April 2019 and was then switched to lenvatinib due to progressive disease. She continued lenvatinib for 11 months following which she developed new metastatic lesions where she was started on nivolumab. After 4 months of nivolumab, her alpha-fetoprotein decreased and there was a radiological PR. She is currently on nivolumab, with a total duration of response of 24 months on sorafenib followed by lenvatinib and lastly on nivolumab. Hence, tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immunotherapy can be effective lines treatment for advanced HCC and can give durable response duration, and probable radiological PR can be achieved with Nivolumab.