Predictive Value of Peripheral Blood Eosinophil Count on the Efficacy of Treatment with Camrelizumab in Combination with Lenvatinib in Patients with Advanced Hepatitis B-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Objective: To examine the effects of peripheral blood eosinophil (EOS) count and its dynamic alterations on the treatment efficacy and prognosis of patients with advanced hepatitis B virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC) receiving camrelizumab combined with lenvatinib (C + L) therapy. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 200 patients with advanced HBV-HCC who were admitted to two centers from January 2018 to August 2023 and treated with C + L. EOS, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were determined before C + L treatment (EOS0, NLR0, and PLR0) and after three cycles of treatment (EOS3, NLR3, and PLR3). The area under the curve was calculated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. NLR and PLR served as references to analyze the effect of differences in EOS in predicting the survival efficacy of patients with HBV-HCC treated using C + L. The independent risk factors affecting progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional risk models. Results: The ROC curve revealed that the predictive value of EOS3 was better than those of NLR3 and PLR3 for the long-term treatment efficacy of patients with intermediate and advanced HBV-HCC receiving C + L. Statistically significant differences were observed between groups with different levels of EOS0 and EOS3 and the evaluation of treatment efficacy after 3 weeks ( P < 0.05). The median PFS of the high-EOS0 group was higher than that of the low-EOS0 group ( P = 0.027); median PFS of the high EOS3 group was higher than that of the low EOS3 group ( P = 0.018); median OS of the high EOS0 group was higher than that of the low EOS0 group ( P = 0.032); median OS of the high EOS3 group was higher than that of the low EOS3 group ( P < 0.0001). Multifactorial Cox analysis revealed that EOS3 was an independent predictor of PFS and that EOS0 was an independent predictor of OS ( P < 0.05). Conclusion: EOS may be an ideal indicator for predicting the treatment efficacy and prognosis of patients with advanced HBV-HCC receiving C + L.