Hepatocellular Carcinoma is the sixth most common cancer in the world and the third in terms of causing death, after lung and colorectal cancers. According to statistics, in 2020, the number of new patients with liver cancer worldwide is 905,677 cases and the number of deaths is 830,180 cases, with the number of deaths being very close to the number of new cases. The latest statistics from China's National Cancer Center 2021 shows, in 2015, the number of Hepatocellular Carcinoma patients in China was 370,000, ranking 4th (lung, stomach, colorectal, liver), and the incidence rate ranked 5th (after lung cancer, breast cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer). The number of deaths due to Hepatocellular Carcinoma was 326,000, with the number of deaths and mortality rate ranked 2nd (After lung cancer).
According to China's National Health Commission's Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (2022 edition), systemic antitumor therapy for patients with intermediate to advanced stage hepatocellular carcinoma mainly focuses on controlling the progression of the disease and prolonging the survival time of patients.
In recent years, combinations of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy with targeted drugs, chemotherapeutic agents, and local therapies has begun to be used for the second-line treatment of liver cancer, and new treatment methods are constantly being explored. The overall response rate is still low, and the typical ORR is not higher than 15%, the therapeutic options for intermediate to advanced stage HCC are still extremely limited, and there is an urgent clinical need for new and effective therapeutic methods.
CAR-T immunotherapy has become the focus of attention in the field of cancer treatment around the world, and is expected to become the method with the highest valuable and potential outside of traditional means of treatment. CAR-T immune cell therapy has achieved breakthrough progress and good clinical therapeutic effects in hematological tumors, and has shown its initial efficacy in solid tumors.
Source:
GLOBOCAN 2020
Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment Guidelines (2022 Edition)