Blood Biomarkers Predict Survival Outcomes in Patients with Hepatitis B Virus-Induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated with PD-1 Inhibitors

Abstract

Purpose. To investigate the prognostic value of blood markers in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with PD-1 inhibitors. Patients and Methods. We retrospectively collected and analyzed the clinicopathological data of 110 HBV-induced HCC patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were scrutinized using Kaplan-Meier analysis and the log-rank test, and all potential risk factors were analyzed with univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. Results. The mean OS and PFS were 6.5 and 5.5 months, respectively. According to Kaplan-Meier survival curves, elevated systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) correlated with decreased OS and PFS (all $P<0.05$ ), and low lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) correlated with decreased PFS and OS (all $P<0.05$ ). Per multivariate Cox regression analyses, SII, PLR, and portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) correlated independently with PFS (all $P<0.05$ ), whereas SII, PLR, NLR, and portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) correlated with OS (all $P<0.05$ ). Conclusion. SII, PLR, and PVTT predicted OS and PFS in HCC patients who received PD-1 inhibitors and, therefore, could be useful predictors for risk stratification and individualized therapeutic decision-making for patients with HBV-induced HCC treated with PD-1 inhibitors.