The research results of Professor Zhao Ming’s team at the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center have significantly improved the prognosis and survival of patients with advanced liver cancer.
Zhongda News Network (Correspondents Zhao Ming, Lu Ning) Recently, the Journal of Clinical Oncology (IF: 44.544), the world's authoritative journal in the field of cancer treatment, published online a Phase III clinical study (FOHAIC-1) in the field of interventional treatment of advanced liver cancer by Professor Zhao Ming's team from the Department of Minimally Invasive Interventional Therapy at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center.
This study is the first to globally confirm that the hepatic artery infusion oxaliplatin + fluorouracil regimen (HAIC-FO) based on interventional technology is significantly more effective in the treatment of advanced liver cancer than sorafenib targeted therapy. It is also the first to explore and develop a HAIC-FO efficacy prediction model at the genetic level, filling the gaps in the field of interventional treatment and molecular model efficacy prediction for advanced liver cancer in China, and providing evidence-based medical evidence for combined treatment strategies based on hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy.
This study was independently completed by the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center. Professor Zhao Ming is the corresponding author and deputy chief physician Lu Ning is the first author.
Professor Zhao Ming took the lead in conducting research on the hepatic artery infusion oxaliplatin + fluorouracil protocol
Based on China's national conditions, Professor Zhao Ming's team is the first in the world to apply the "oxaliplatin combined with fluorouracil (FOLFOX) hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy" method in clinical research on advanced liver cancer. As early as 2014, the research team began to gradually and systematically explore the clinical safety and technical feasibility of HAIC-FO treatment in clinical practice. In May 2015, it registered and conducted the world's first clinical phase 2 study - the FOXAI study. It was initially confirmed that this solution has good safety, less painful treatment and good clinical application value. The relevant results were published online in June 2017 by Gut, the official journal of the British Society of Gastroenterology.
Following the FOXAI study, the research team conducted a retrospective comparative analysis (PSM) between HAIC-FO and the then first-line treatment regimen sorafenib, and concluded that this regimen may have advantages in efficacy and survival benefit in the treatment of advanced liver cancer with mainly intrahepatic lesions. The results were published in the Journal of Hepatology, the official journal of the European Society of Liver Diseases. The research team registered in May 2017 to conduct a phase 3 randomized controlled clinical study—FOHAIC-1 study.
After four years of painstaking research and exploration, Professor Zhao Ming’s team orally reported the main results of the FOHAIC-1 study at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in June 2021, and further published the results online in JCO.
Study shows good survival benefit
The FOHAIC-1 study mainly includes research subjects who are representative and universal of China's advanced liver cancer population - the intrahepatic tumor burden is severe, and about three-quarters of the patients are accompanied by large vessel tumor thrombus invasion. The research is closer to clinical practice in China and will help improve the treatment of advanced liver cancer in China.
The main results of FOHAIC-1 showed that the median overall survival and progression-free survival in the HAIC-FO group were 13.9 months and 7.8 months respectively; the disease downstaging rate was approximately 12.3%. After downstaging, the preferred treatment methods were local thermal ablation and transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) interventional therapy. The progression-free survival was 16.4 months and the overall survival was 20.8 months. In addition, in the subgroup of people with local high-risk risk factors, the HAIC-FO group also showed a good survival benefit, with an overall survival of about 10.8 months, suggesting its potential value in competing and combining first-line immunity + anti-angiogenesis/targeted regimens (7.6 months).
Professor Zhao Ming’s team (Source: Cancer Control Center)
FOHAIC-1 opens a new era of prediction of liver cancer gene sequencing efficacy
The FOHAIC-1 research team developed and constructed a HAIC-FO efficacy prediction model at the genetic level. The model consists of 15 genes and has a prediction efficiency of 83%. It has the characteristics of moderate quantity and high accuracy. The HAIC-FO effective patients identified by this model The survival benefit of the group was significantly improved, with the progression-free survival and overall survival being approximately 14.3 and 19.3 months respectively, suggesting that this model is expected to become the first HAIC-FO efficacy and survival benefit prediction model for advanced liver cancer, and promote the advancement of arterial infusion personalized treatment strategies for advanced liver cancer.
Based on the research results of Professor Zhao Ming's team, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and brother hospitals in various provinces have used HAIC-FO treatment plan in the clinical practice of initially diagnosed advanced liver cancer, and have achieved significant social benefits. The FOHAIC-1 study for the first time confirmed the value of HAIC-FO interventional therapy in the treatment of advanced liver cancer, providing clear evidence-based medical evidence for the current clinical use of HAIC-FO in advanced liver cancer in China, and laying the foundation for further exploration of the cutting-edge interventional HAIC-FO combined immune/targeted system therapy.
Paper link: https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.21.01963