1. Immunotherapy Efficacy in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma in a Diverse and Underserved Population in the United States.
- Author
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Bteich, Fernand, Desai, Kush, Zhang, Chenxin, Kaur, Anahat, Levy, Rachel A, Bioh, Lydia, Wang, Aaron, Sultana, Sharmin, Kaubisch, Andreas, Kinkhabwala, Milan, Bellemare, Sarah, Fidvi, Shabnam, Kanmaniraja, Devaraju, Berkenblit, Robert, Moon, Jee-Young, Adedimeji, Adebola, Tow, Clara Y, and Saenger, Yvonne
- Subjects
SURVIVAL analysis (Biometry) ,IMMUNE checkpoint inhibitors ,HEPATITIS C virus ,LIVER cancer ,IMMUNOTHERAPY ,HEPATOCELLULAR carcinoma - Abstract
Background: : Incidence of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) in the Bronx is 61% higher than the rest of New York State. Underserved populations are not well represented in clinical trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Methods: Demographics were tabulated for 194 patients treated with ICI at the Montefiore-Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center (MECCC) between 2017 and 2022. Categorical variables were analyzed by Chi-squared test, and survival was analyzed using Kaplan–Meier (KM) curves. Results: MECCC patients were 40.7% Hispanic and 20.6% Black, compared with 3% and 2%, respectively, in the landmark IMbrave 150 study. Median overall survival (mOS) on ICI was 9.0 months, 25.0 months for the 100 (51.5%) favorable-prognosis Child Pugh A (CPA) patients included in HCC clinical trials. Disease control rate (DCR) was 58.5% among 123 evaluable patients per mRECIST 1.1. Baseline liver function, as defined by CP and the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease-Sodium (MELD-Na), correlated with survival (p < 0.001). Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and alcoholism were over-represented relative to National Cancer Institute (NCI) data (56.2% vs 4.7% and 38.7% vs 8.2%, respectively). HCV treatment correlated with prolonged survival in infected patients (p = 0.0017). AFP decline correlated with response (p = 0.001). Hispanic patients lived longer when clinical variables were controlled for (mOS 52 vs 23 months; p = 0.011). Conclusion: In an underserved HCC population, ICI yielded a DCR of 58.5% and low rates of severe toxicity. This work highlights ICI efficacy in minority groups, a need for earlier HCC diagnosis and for studies of genetic and environmental factors in Hispanics with HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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