Cancer is a field of study that has been going on for years. HCC, or Hepatocellular carcinoma, is amongst the most common types of liver cancer that affected over 4,00,000 people between 2001 and 2020 in the United States. HCC poses a significant challenge in the field of medical science as no two patients have the same symptoms or reactions to the treatment.
As a medical professional studying about the possible HCC cancer treatment you must be reading a lot of things on a daily basis to track how advancements have worked. In recent clinical trials, targeted therapies and immunotherapy have opened new frontiers in the treatment of HCC. As you read further, you’ll explore the exciting developments that have occurred in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Understand and Learn About HCC
If you are a new researcher or professional who is still new to the terms of HCC, then you must understand that HCC is a liver condition that affects the liver cells and is often underlying other liver conditions like hepatitis B or C infection or cirrhosis.
It is a condition that has been challenging to treat, but the recent progress in the study of immunotherapy and target therapies has shown promising results.
Types of Targeted Therapies
Earlier, the only process by which treatment was offered to HCC patients was chemotherapy, which showed diverse side effects. However, unlike chemotherapy, targeted therapies only focus on working on cancer cells and reduce any side effects that can harm the patient.
In the case of HCC, many targeted therapies have shown positive outcomes by improving patients’ health and restricting tumor growth. Let’s discover what their targeted therapies are.
Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs)
TKIs such as sorafenib and lenvatinib are the first advanced treatments suggested for HCC. These two drugs work wonders in blocking the activity of enzymes involved in cancer cell proliferation and angiogenesis. It slows down the growth of the tumor and increases the lifespan of a human.
Anti-Angiogenic Agents
It is a targeted therapy that involves a process called angiogenesis, which helps in forming new blood cells. It plays a huge role in tumor growth and metastasis. Anti-angiogenic agents like bevacizumab hamper the formation of blood vessels in the tumor, which prevents it from having any nutrients or oxygen.
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
As the name suggests, immune checkpoint inhibitors are a targeted therapy where it unleashes the body’s immune system to recognize the cancer cells and attack them.
In this process, drugs like nivolumab and pembrolizumab target proteins such as PD-1 and PD-L1 are used, which increases the response of the immune system towards the cancer cells. This advanced therapy has proven to be very beneficial, especially in patients with advanced stages of tumors.
What is Immunotherapy?
Immunotherapy has been a clinical trial success, as many patients have benefited from this approach. In regards to HCC, it works by harnessing the power of the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells. It involves checkpoint inhibitors along with chemotherapy and other targeted therapies to work best for the patient.
Challenges and Future Directions
While you study and understand these therapies that have proven to be beneficial there are still some challenges that are unresolved. Here’s a list of things that still need to be addressed.
- Resistance Mechanism: When a patient is treated with the same therapy over a prolonged period of time, the tumor can become resistant towards the treatment and slow down the progress. Therefore it is important to understand the underlying mechanism and develop an alternate plan of action in case the body stops responding to a particular therapy.
- Patient Choice of Treatment: As a medical practitioner, you can only recommend the treatment to a patient. The final choice always lies in the hand of the patient and thus it is your job to identify biomarkers and predictive factors and discuss it with the patient so that they can choose what’s best for them.
- Combine Different Approaches: You must sit and calculate the possible combination of targeted therapies that can work for a particular patient. Collaborate with experts and understand clinical trials before fixing at one approach.
Well, irrespective of the challenges and struggles, the future of HCC treatment looks. The ongoing advancements and research keep the possibility high of a better outcome in the future. It gives hope to professionals like you and patients to constantly keep working together to fight with HCC and come out stronger.
