Hepatitis C virus eradication ameliorates the prognosis of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with sorafenib.

Abstract

The risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurrence following hepatitis C virus (HCV) eradication has been previously reported, but the impact of HCV eradication on advanced HCC patient survival remains unclear. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of HCV eradication on the survival outcome of patients with advanced HCC treated with sorafenib. One hundred and three HCV-related advanced HCC patients who were treated with sorafenib were enrolled in this study. Of these, 43 patients were administered antiviral therapy before sorafenib treatment (HCV eradication group), while 60 patients remained HCV-infected (HCV non-eradication group). We analysed the impact of HCV eradication on survival in advanced HCC treated with sorafenib. Median overall survival (OS) was significantly longer in the HCV eradication group than in the HCV non-eradication group (24.0months vs. 14.1 months; p=0.001). Although there was no significant difference in the albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score at the start of treatment between the HCV eradication group and the non-eradication group (p=0.065), the ALBI score at 2months after initiation of sorafenib treatment was significantly decreased in the HCV non-eradication group (p < 0.001), but not in the HCV eradication group (p=0.121). Multivariate logistic analysis revealed HCV eradication (hazard ratio [HR], 0.5; p=0.006) and ALBI score at the start of treatment (HR, 2.47; p=0.002) as factors that may contribute to OS. HCV eradication may serve an important role in the survival outcome of advanced HCC patients treated with sorafenib.