Downstaging Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma to Resectable Disease With Combined Immunotherapy and Stereotactic Beamed Radiotherapy: a Pilot Study

NCT07305428 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: UW19-286
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 30
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the commonest cancers worldwide and ranks the third on the incidence of cancer-related death. There are more than 500000 new cases diagnosed annually worldwide. The incidence and prevalence of HCC are on rising trend with the majority of the disease burden is in Asia where viral hepatitis B is endemic. Surgical resection, radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and liver transplantation (LT) represent the only chance of cure for HCC patients. Despite more aggressive surgical approach has been adopted in most Asian countries, yet curative intervention remains only amendable in 30% of patients. Most patients are diagnosed with intermediate or advanced stage diseases; the long-term cure rate is only 0-10%. Hence, every effort has been made in an attempt to convert inoperable HCC into operable disease (i.e. downstaging) in order to improve the chance of survival of these patients. The current study, to our knowledge, will be the first study in the field to deploy a novel treatment strategy to deploy both immunotherapy and stereotactic beamed radiotherapy to induce tumor shrinkage rendering it become operable cancer.

Conditions

HCC - Hepatocellular Carcinoma; Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• rate of successive tumour downstaging

  show how many patients will be downstaged by receiving surgery

  at the time point of receiving surgery

Study Arms (1)

Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy followed by Immunotherapy

OTHER

The intervention will be done with Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy and followed by Immunotherapy

Other: Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy followed by Immunotherapy

Interventions

Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy followed by Immunotherapy OTHER

Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy is a type of external radiation therapy that uses special equipment to position the patient and precisely deliver radiation to a tumor. Drugs for immunotherapy will be suggested and decided by doctors from Department of Clinical Oncology. The therapy will last for 2 years unless it is no longer helping the disease, or unacceptable toxicity, or until the disease is amendable to surgery.

Also known as: SBRT and immunotherapy

Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy followed by Immunotherapy

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Diagnosis of HCC is made according to American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) practice guideline 2010: patients with cirrhosis of any etiology and patients with chronic hepatitis B (HBV) who may not have fully developed cirrhosis, the presence of liver nodule \>1cm and demonstrated in a single contrast enhanced dynamic imaging \[either computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)\] of intense arterial uptake and "washout" in portal venous and delayed phases.
• Tumor size 5-25 cm or number of lesions ≤3 or segmental portal vein involvement
• Age: 18-80 years old
• Child Pugh liver function class A-B7
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status score of 0 or 1

You may not qualify if:

• Prior invasive malignancy
• Prior radiotherapy to the region of liver or selective internal radiotherapy
• Severe, active co-morbidity
• Presence of extra-hepatic metastases (M1)
• Main portal vein or inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombosis or involvement
• Presence of ascites or encephalopathy
• Contraindicated of SBRT:
• Any one hepatocellular carcinoma \> 15 cm
• Total maximal sum of hepatocellular carcinoma \> 25 cm
• More than 3 discrete hepatic nodule
• Direct tumor extension into the stomach, duodenum, small bowel, large bowel, common or main branch of biliary tree

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The University of Hong Kong: lead

Study Sites (1)

Queen Mary Hospital

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular

Interventions

Radiosurgery; Immunotherapy

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Adenocarcinoma; Carcinoma; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neoplasms; Liver Neoplasms; Digestive System Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Digestive System Diseases; Liver Diseases

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Radiotherapy; Therapeutics; Stereotaxic Techniques; Neurosurgical Procedures; Surgical Procedures, Operative; Investigative Techniques; Immunomodulation; Biological Therapy

Central Study Contacts

Albert Chan

CONTACT

+852 2255 6646; hbptrial@hku.hk

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Clinical Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 12, 2025
• First Posted: December 26, 2025
• Study Start: April 25, 2019
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2030
• Last Updated: December 26, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-12

Locations

HK (1)