CASE REPORT article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1549675
This article is part of the Research TopicCommunity Series in Novel Preclinical Model, Biomarker, Treatment and Drug Delivery to Address Immune Evasion in Cancer: Volume IIView all 3 articles
Case Report: Durable Complete Response of Advanced-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma to DEB‑TACE Combined with Lenvatinib and Camrelizumab
Provisionally accepted
Baiguo Xu1,2,3,4,5
Yufeng Cui1,2,3,4,5
Ning Wang1,2,3,4,5Zhongsong Gao2,3,4,5,6
Qing Ye1,2,3,4,5*
Huiling Xiang1,2,3,4,5- 1Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Tianjin University Central Hospital, Tianjin, China
- 2Tianjin Third Central Hospital, Tianjin, China
- 3Tianjin Institute of Hepatobiliary Disease, Tianjin, China
- 4Tianjin Key Laboratory of Extracorporeal Life Support for Critical Diseases, Tianjin, China
- 5Artificial Cell Engineering Technology Research Center, Tianjin, China
- 6Department of Radiology, Tianjin University Central Hospital, Tianjin, China
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Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with lung metastases is associated with a poor prognosis due to limited effective treatment options. Emerging evidence suggests that combining locoregional therapy, multi-kinase inhibitors (MKIs), and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) offers promising results for advanced HCC. However, the efficacy of innovative combinations of MKIs and ICIs remains inconclusive. Herein, we present a case of a patient with massive HCC and lung metastases, complicated with decompensated hepatitis B cirrhosis, who achieved complete remission (CR) lasting for 10 months following treatment with lenvatinib (an MKI), camrelizumab (a PD-1 inhibitor), and locoregional therapy.Case summary: A 58-year-old male patient with decompensated hepatitis B-induced liver cirrhosis and advanced HCC with lung metastases underwent drug-eluting bead transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) therapy. Initially, he received apatinib in combination with camrelizumab; however, due to intolerance to apatinib's side effects, the regimen was adjusted to lenvatinib and camrelizumab. After three DEB-TACE sessions, 14 weeks of lenvatinib, and a 5-month course of camrelizumab, the patient achieved CR, with no tumor recurrence observed over 10 months of follow-up.The combination of DEB-TACE, lenvatinib, and camrelizumab demonstrated efficacy in a patient with advanced HCC and lung metastases. These findings suggest that integrating MKIs and ICIs may represent a potential treatment approach for select advanced HCC cases, warranting further validation in larger studies.
Keywords: Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Locoregional therapy, drug eluting beads-TACE, Immunotherapy, Lenvatinib, camrelizumab
Received: 02 Jan 2025; Accepted: 05 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xu, Cui, Wang, Gao, Ye and Xiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Qing Ye, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Tianjin University Central Hospital, Tianjin, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.