Serum IL-6 concentration is a useful biomarker to predict the efficacy of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

This study aims to identify biomarkers for treatment response of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (Atezo+Bev) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). 96 patients who received Atezo+Bev or lenvatinib as a first-line systemic therapy were enrolled as the training group after propensity score matching (PSM), and 42 patients treated with Atezo+Bev were enrolled as the validation group. 17 serum cytokines were measured by Luminex multiplex assay at the start of treatment. For further assessment of the association between cytokine levels and the tumor microenvironment (TME), immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed on pre-treatment liver biopsy specimens. In the derivation set, multivariate analysis identified elevated IL-6 as an independent risk factor in the Atezo+Bev group (HR 5.80: p