A novel approach to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of durvalumab and tremelimumab combination therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of durvalumab + tremelimumab (Dur + Tre) in real-world clinical practice, characterize "stable disease (SD)," and identify SD responders (SD-R) who benefit from Dur + Tre treatment. This multicenter observational study included 212 patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (u-HCC) treated with Dur + Tre between March 2023 and November 2024. The patients were categorized into 95 first-line and 117 later-line cases, respectively. Sequential cutoff points for depth of response (DOR) and progression-free survival (PFS) were tested to identify subgroups with survival outcomes comparable to those of responders. Disease control rate (DCR) and PFS were significantly better in the first-line setting for both response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) and modified RECIST (mRECIST) criteria. Patients who achieved PFS of ≥84 days or RECIST DOR of ≤-10% were classified as SD-R, as they had long-term survival outcomes similar to those with PR or CR. Furthermore, the CR + PR + SD-R group had significantly better survival outcomes than the other groups (p < 0.01), and multivariate analysis confirmed that SD-R was an independent prognostic factor with the strongest impact on survival outcomes (hazard ratio = 0.11). In real-world clinical practice, Dur + Tre is highly effective as a first-line treatment for u-HCC. Additionally, patients with SD who met the SD-R criteria (PFS ≥84 days or RECIST DOR ≤-10%) showed survival outcomes comparable to those of patients with PR or CR. These findings may help identify patients who are most likely to benefit from treatment and improve their prognoses.