Liver cancer vaccine with immunotherapy shows promise in new trial

• Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of liver cancer, accounting for more than 80% of cases.
• Immunotherapy is one of the newest treatment options for HCC, but not everyone responds to it.
• Researchers from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center found combining immunotherapy with a personalized anti-tumor vaccine increased tumor shrinkage compared to immunotherapy alone.

Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the world. Researchers estimate 905,700 people were diagnosed with liver cancer in 2020 and that number is expected to hit 1.4 million by 2040.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer, accounting for more than 80% of all cases.

One of the newest treatment options for HCC is immunotherapy — a treatment using a person’s own immune system to fight the cancer. However, past studies show only 15–20% of HCC diagnoses respond to immunotherapy and about 30% may be resistant.

Now, the results of a preliminary clinical trial show that people with HCC treated with immunotherapy and a personalized anti-tumor vaccine were twice as likely to experience tumor shrinkage compared to those receiving immunotherapy only.

The results of the trial were published April 7 in Nature Medicine.