Dynamics in Circulating Proinflammatory Biomarkers for Prognostic Assessment of Patients With Advanced HCC - A Substudy From the SORAMIC Trial.

Introduction: Prediction of response to treatment in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may assist in the selection of personalized management.

Objective: This exploratory analysis of the palliative arm of the SORAMIC trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01126645) evaluated the prognostic potential of basal and dynamic changes in systemic levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 8 (IL-8), systemic vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS).

Methods: We evaluated the correlations between overall survival (OS) and concentrations of IL-6, IL-8, VEGF, and LPS at follow-up approximately 7-9 weeks after treatment initialization (FU) compared to baseline (BL) in 90 patients treated either with ⁹⁰Yttrium (⁹⁰Y) microspheres combined with sorafenib (n = 44) or with sorafenib (n = 46) alone.

Results: Changes in IL-6 concentration during treatment showed correlations with the outcome. An increase in IL-6 concentration of less than 16.8 pg/mL over baseline readings was associated with better survival [median OS 16.3 months compared with 8.9 months (p = 0.0354)]. Correlations with survival were not observed for VEGF or LPS concentrations at baseline, at FU, or changes between these time points.

Conclusions: Changes in IL 6 serum levels at 7-9 weeks after treatment initialization but not in IL 8, VEGF, or LPS add important information on the outcome of advanced HCC patients treated palliatively within the SORAMIC trial.