(6) Interventional Oncology Procedures with Adjuvant Adoptive Cell Therapy in the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Khloe Gu BSa, Emily Barnard MDb; Robert Hernandez, MDb; Christopher Ochner, PhDb
aNova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA; bHCA Florida Kendall Hospital, Miami, FL, USA

Purpose: This literature review aims to evaluate studies assessing the safety and efficacy of minimally invasive interventional oncology procedures in combination with adjuvant adoptive cell therapy in treating patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Material and Methods: A systematic review was conducted electronically through PubMed and EBSCOhost. Abstracts within search terms were screened using eligible criteria, including adoptive cell therapy, a minimally invasive oncologic procedure, and human participants with hepatocellular carcinoma. The primary endpoints were to assess the efficacy and safety between interventional oncology therapy only and combination therapy.

Results: Multiple studies evaluated in this review found statistically significant increases in the median Overall Survival (OS) and median Progression-Free Survival (PFS) rates in the combined therapy compared to control group receives only the interventional oncology procedures (Table 1). No severe complications or mortalities were reported in either group. Patients who receive the combination therapy are significantly more likely to develop fever as a side effect than patients who receive only the IO procedures (27.29% vs. 5.32%, p = 0.0027).
Several studies have found a significant increase in CD8+ cells and one study found an increase in the number of lymphocytes and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IFN-gamma in combination therapy.

Conclusions: In summary, interventional oncology procedures combined with adjuvant natural killer cell immunotherapy are equally safe and effective as interventional oncology procedures alone in treating hepatocellular carcinoma patients.