Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Nivolumab in Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Evidence to Date

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer with a dismal prognosis, especially when diagnosed at advanced stages. Surgical resection of the primary lesion, liver-directed therapies, and orthotropic liver transplantation are employed in localized disease depending upon the clinical status, underlying liver function, the size, and location of the liver lesions. Systemic therapy plays a critical role in the management of advanced HCC. Sorafenib had remained as the only United States Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA)-approved systemic therapeutic agent for approximately a decade since its approval in 2007, until the advent of immunotherapy and a better understanding of HCC molecular pathogenesis changed the landscape of advanced HCC management. Lenvatinib was approved as an alternative first-line agent, whereas regorafenib, nivolumab, pembrolizumab, ramucirumab, and cabozantinib were approved as second-line agents for HCC patients who could not tolerate or whose disease progressed on sorafenib. Nivolumab and pembrolizumab are the two immunotherapeutic agents that were conditionally approved by the US-FDA based on the encouraging results in Phase I/II trials. This review discusses the potential role of immunotherapy in advanced HCC with a special focus on nivolumab.