Evaluation of Hepatic Arterial Infusion of Cisplatin and 5-FU in Biomarker Stratified HCC

Hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil has been used in advanced HCC. However, cisplatin or 5-fluorouracil acts on cells without tumor selectivity. Therefore, to improve the tumor selectivity and effectiveness of HAIC, molecular subtyping-based stratification strategies should be considered. In this study, patients who have progressed or intolerance to sorafenib with non-metastatic HCC in TNM stage III-IVA and ECOG PS 0 or 1, Child-Pugh class A will be enrolled. 96 patients with pre-treatment tumor biopsy will receive Cisplatin (60mg/m2 for 2h on day 2) and 5-fluorouracil (500mg/m2 for 5h on days 1-3) through implanted port system. This treatment will be repeated every 4 weeks, up to 6 times. The primary objective is to determine overall response rate, where benefit is defined as complete or partial response according to mRECIST V1.1. Secondary endpoints include time to progression, progression free survival. The biopsy tissue will be subjected to real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for quantification of gene expression levels. Patients will be categorized into two groups according to gene expression results, and then AUC value of ROC curve analysis will be evaluated as an exploratory endpoint to assess predictive performance of biomarker for therapeutic response of HAIC.