Oral chemotherapy for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Introduction: Many clinical trials have been conducted with chemotherapies in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, few agents have shown efficacy. It is thought that the efficacy of some agents might have resulted from the heterogeneity of tumors, insufficient dosages due to liver cirrhosis, and post-therapy effects. In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown promising clinical activity and safety in patients with advanced HCC.

Areas covered: The authors provide an overview of chemotherapies used for the treatment of HCC, including ongoing trials. The authors also provide their expert opinion on the subject area and provide their future perspectives.

Expert opinion: Based on favorable phase III clinical trial data, sorafenib and lenvatinib are considered promising agents for HCC as first-line systemic chemotherapy. Moreover, regorafenib and cabozantinib are useful second-line therapies after the failure of sorafenib. Furthermore, in early phase clinical trials, immune checkpoint inhibitors and the combinations of these inhibitors and molecular targeted agents have demonstrated promising activity. Therefore, better survival results are expected from future phase III clinical trials.