Risk of Hepatitis B Virus Reactivation and Its Effect on Survival in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients Treated with Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy and Lenvatinib Plus Programmed Death Receptor-1 Inhibitors

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation is a common complication in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with chemotherapy or immunotherapy. This study aimed to evaluate the risk of HBV reactivation and its effect on survival in HCC patients treated with HAIC and lenvatinib plus PD1s.

Methods: We retrospectively collected the data of 213 HBV-related HCC patients who underwent HAIC and lenvatinib plus PD1s treatment between June 2019 to June 2022 at Sun Yat-sen University, China. The primary outcome was the risk of HBV reactivation. The secondary outcomes were overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and treatment-related adverse events.

Results: Sixteen patients (7.5%) occurred HBV reactivation in our study. The incidence of HBV reactivation was 5% in patients with antiviral prophylaxis and 21.9% in patients without antiviral prophylaxis, respectively. The logistic regression model indicated that for HBV reactivation, lack of antiviral prophylaxis (=0.003) and tumor diameter (=0.036) were independent risk factors. The OS and PFS were significantly shorter in the HBV reactivation group than the non-reactivation group (=0.0023 and =0.00073, respectively). The number of AEs was more in HBV reactivation group than the non-reactivation group, especially hepatic AEs.

Conclusion: HBV reactivation may occur in HCC patients treated with HAIC and lenvatinib plus PD1s. Patients with HBV reactivation had shorter survival time compared with non-reactivation. Therefore, HBV-related HCC patients should undergo antiviral therapy and HBV-DNA monitoring before and during the combination treatment.