Immunotherapy Prior to a Liver Transplant: Literature Review and a Case Report of Hepatocellular Carcinoma With BRCA1 Mutation

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality worldwide. The effectiveness of its standard treatment in some cases remains poor.We report a case of a patient with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage C cryptogenic HCC whose life duration was 26 months after diagnosis.A 46-year-old woman, a former smoker, presented with elevated alpha-fetoprotein and a left liver lobe mass diagnosed as HCC. Pulmonary nodules (presumably metastatic) were previously found and remained stable. The left lobe of the liver was resected. Intrahepatic recurrence developed 1.5 months later. Lenvatinib+pembrolizumab therapy was prescribed and later switched to olaparib following the detection of somatic and germline BRCA1 mutation. The patient underwent a liver transplant and was prescribed a combination of tacrolimus and everolimus, later supplemented with extracorporeal photopheresis. Pulmonary nodules that were found to be metastases were treated with radiation therapy. A lethal outcome occurred 21.3 months after the transplant.The first literature review related to this case report discusses the problem of neoadjuvant immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy prior to a liver transplant. More than 100 patients have been described in 40 articles and 113 patients, in 2 multicenter studies. Although 16.7%-27.7% of patients developed rejection, such approach may be effective in downstaging the disease.