Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization plus apatinib with or without camrelizumab for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: a multicenter retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: The evidence of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) plus tyrosine kinase inhibitor and immune checkpoint inhibitor in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was limited. This study aimed to evaluate the role of TACE plus apatinib (TACE + A) and TACE combined with apatinib plus camrelizumab (TACE + AC) in patients with unresectable HCC. METHODS: This study retrospectively reviewed patients with unresectable HCC who received TACE + A or TACE + AC in 20 centers of China from January 1, 2019 to June 31, 2021. Propensity score matching (PSM) at 1:1 was performed to reduce bias. Treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs), overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) were collected. RESULTS: A total of 960 eligible patients with HCC were included in the final analysis. After PSM, there were 449 patients in each group, and the baseline characteristics were balanced between two groups. At data cutoff, the median follow-up time was 16.3 (range: 11.9–21.4) months. After PSM, the TACE + AC group showed longer median OS (24.5 vs 18.0 months, p < 0.001) and PFS (10.8 vs 7.7 months, p < 0.001) than the TACE + A group; the ORR (49.9% vs 42.5%, p = 0.002) and DCR (88.4% vs 84.0%, p = 0.003) of the TACE + AC group were also higher than those in the TACE + A group. Fever, pain, hypertension and hand-foot syndrome were the more common TRAEs in two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Both TACE plus apatinib and TACE combined with apatinib plus camrelizumab were feasible in patients with unresectable HCC, with manageable safety profiles. Moreover, TACE combined with apatinib plus camrelizumab showed additional benefit. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12072-023-10519-8.