ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Hepato Pancreatic Biliary Cancers
Clinical Outcomes of Combination Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in a Predominantly Hispanic South Texas Population
Provisionally accepted
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, United States
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Abstract Background/Aim Currently, studies looking at hepatocellular carcinoma treatments with combination immunotherapy and locoregional therapies are limited in scope. Our study aimed to further clarify the impact of combination therapy using immunotherapy and locoregional therapy on mortality in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods A chart review was conducted on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who had received either immunotherapy or tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Patients were classified into four treatment arms: 1. Patients treated with locoregional therapy and immunotherapy. 2. Patients treated with locoregional therapy and tyrosine kinase inhibitors. 3. Patients treated with immunotherapy but without locoregional therapy. 4. Combination treatment arm containing Arms 1 and 2. The primary objective was overall survival immunotherapy alone versus combination treatments. Results A total of 1355 patient charts were analyzed in this study. One hundred nine patients had received immunotherapy, and 102 had received locoregional therapy. Cumulative median survival for all patients from the date of diagnosis was 1.55 years. Median survival for the immunotherapy arm was 0.51 years, and median survival for the combination treatment arm was 2.25 years. Results from the Cox proportional hazards regression model comparing the combination treatment groups against the immunotherapy arm found a hazard ratio of 0.21 (0.12-0.39; p<0.05). Conclusion In this study of hepatocellular carcinoma, combination treatment groups receiving locoregional therapy with either tyrosine kinase inhibitors or immunotherapy demonstrated improved survival compared to immunotherapy alone. These results highlight the importance of tailored treatment strategies, particularly in patients with preserved liver function.
Keywords: Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Immunotherapy, combination therapy, Locoregional therapy, South Texas
Received: 09 Jun 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hoverson, Qi, Mehmken, Chiu, Lowry, Arora and Newman. 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:
John Hoverson, hoverson@uthscsa.edu
Neil Newman, newmann1@uthscsa.edu
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