Efficacy and Safety of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy Followed by Adebrelimab and Lenvatinib for Hepatocellular Carcinoma With Abdominal Lymph Node Metastases: A Two-arm, Phase II Trial
Abdominal lymph node metastasis (LNM) is one of the major modes of extrahepatic metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Immunotherapy targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoints combined with targeted therapy is the standard treatment for HCC with abdominal LNM, but the outcome remains very poor, with an objective response rate of 5% to 30%. Previous studies have demonstrated that stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is an effective local treatment for HCC with abdominal LNM, with a high response rate of 60% to 80%. However, intrahepatic dissemination and distant metastasis remains the major recurrence pattern after SBRT in these patients, suggesting radiotherapy should be combined with systematic treatment. Recently, the combination of immunotherapy with SBRT has shown promising activity in HCC. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of SBRT followed by adebrelimab (an anti-PD-L1 antibody) and lenvatinib in HCC patients with portal abdominal LNM.
• Histologically confirmed hepatocellular carcinoma or diagnosed by American Association for the Study of Liver Disease criteria;
• Presence of abdominal metastatic lymph nodes confirmed by CT or MRI, the sum of the maximum diameter of lymph nodes ≤10 cm, and at least one of which is measurable according to the RECIST 1.1 Criteria;
• Previous local treatment for intrahepatic lesion and systemic anti-tumor therapy are allowed; no matter whether the disease progressed or not;
• Less than 3 active intrahepatic lesions with a total diameter of less than 10 cm; Portal vein invasion is allowed; absence of other extrahepatic metastasis disease except abdominal LNM;
• Cohort 1: Patients who never received PD-1/PD-L1 antibody therapy; Cohort 2: patients who had tumor progression after previous PD-1/PD-L1 antibody therapy.
• Age at diagnosis 18 to 75 years;
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status ≤ 2
• Child-Pugh class A liver function;
• Normal liver volume greater than 700 ml;
⁃ Estimated life expectancy ≥12 weeks;
⁃ The function of important organs meets the following requirements: a. white blood cell count (WBC) ≥ 3.0×109/L, absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥ 1.5×109/L; b. platelets ≥ 50×109/L; c. hemoglobin ≥ 9g/dL; d. serum albumin ≥ 2.8g/dL; e. total bilirubin ≤ 1.5×ULN, ALT, AST and/or AKP ≤ 2.5×ULN; f. serum creatinine ≤ 1.5×ULN or creatinine clearance rate \>60 mL/min;
⁃ Ability to understand the study and sign informed consent.