Transarterial chemoembolization with or without multikinase inhibitors for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) testing the combination therapy of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) plus multikinase inhibitor (MKI) in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have yielded inconsistent results.

Methods: In this work, a systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to compare the TACE+MKI combination therapy versus TACE monotherapy in HCC patients with time to progression (TTP) adopted as primary outcome.

Results: A total of 10 RCTs comprising 2837 patients receiving combination therapy (TACE plus sorafenib, brivanib, orantinib or apatinib) were included. TACE+MKI significantly prolonged TTP (hazard ratio [HR] 0.74, 95% CI 0.62-0.89, p=0.001) versus TACE monotherapy. Subgroup analysis suggested MKI administration before TACE might be preferable to post-TACE MKI for TTP. TACE+MKI also increased objective response rate (ORR) (risk ratio [RR] 1.17, 95% CI 1.03-1.32, p=0.01), but failed to improve overall survival (OS) (HR 0.98, 95% CI 0.86-1.13, p=0.82) and progression-free survival (PFS) (HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.50-1.12, p=0.16). The incidence of any adverse event (AE) did not significantly differ between TACE+MKI and TACE groups (RR 1.17, 95% CI 0.96-1.42, p=0.01), while serious AEs showed significant difference (RR 1.41, 95% CI 1.26-1.59, p<0.0001). Nevertheless, these AEs showing significant difference were mainly associated with MKI toxicities rather than TACE.

Conclusions: TACE+MKI combination therapy improved TTP and ORR but not OS and PFS in patients with unresectable HCC. Further high-quality trials are needed to verify these clinical benefits, and our findings could be very informative for future trial design.