Adoptive immunotherapy in postoperative hepatocellular carcinoma: a systemic review

Purpose

The effectiveness of immunotherapy for postoperative hepatocellular carcinoma patients is still controversial. To address this issue, we did a systemic review of the literatures and analyzed the data with emphasis on the recurrence and survival.

Methods

We searched six randomized controlled trials that included adoptive immunotherapy in the postoperative management of hepatocellular carcinoma and compared with non-immunotherapy postoperation. A meta-analysis was carried out to examine one- and 3-year recurrence and survival.

Results

The overall analysis revealed significantly reduced risk of 1-year recurrence in patients receiving adoptive immunotherapy (OR?=?0.35; 95% CI, 0.17 to 0.71; p?=?0.003), in that the risk of 3-year recurrence with a pooled OR estimated at 0.31 (95% CI 0.16 to 0.61; p?=?0.001). However, no statistically significant difference was observed for 3-year survival between groups with adoptive immunotherapy and without adjuvant treatment (OR?=?0.91; 95% CI, 0.45 to 1.84; P?=?0.792).

Conclusions

Adjuvant immunotherapy with cytokine induced killer cells or lymphokine activated killer cells may reduce recurrence in postoperative hepatocellular carcinoma patients, but may not improve survival.