Long-lasting tumour response to sorafenib therapy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

The multi-kinase inhibitor sorafenib still remains the only approved agent for advanced HCC. Its benefits typically involve disease stabilisation, whereas an induction of response is rare. We report a series of five cases with extraordinary response to sorafenib. For two patients complete response to sorafenib was reported with a recurrence-free survival of 51 and 21 months. In another HCC patient pretreated with transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) sorafenib treatment resulted in a complete response with no evidence of disease 18 months after first diagnosis. In patient 4 with unresectable HCC and sorafenib therapy secondary resectability and subsequent liver transplantation was achieved. Patient 5 had stabilised disease for 48 months after TACE and sorafenib treatment. Sorafenib may be very potent in individual patients. Excellent interdisciplinary strategies are required to achieve best results. There is an urgent need of predictive biomarkers to identify HCC patients that will benefit the most.