Fever after anti-programmed cell death-1 treatment to predict the response in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

90Background: Anti-programmed cell death (PD)-1, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, has been recently approved for the treatment of patients with HCC following prior sorafenib. However, a reliable predictor of treatment response has not been established. Patients who experienced immune-related adverse events (irAEs) of any grade yielded a significantly higher response rate than did those did not experience irAEs. Methods: Three cases of advanced HCC with or without previous sorafenib treatment, underwent anti-PD-1 treatment (pembrolizumab, 2 mg/kg, at 3-week interval) with or without combination of sorafenib (400mg daily). Results: Case 1 Fever (38.3°C) developed 2 days after anti-PD-1 treatment. The fever persisted for 2 months and gradually subsided (Figure 2B). Follow-up computed tomography (CT) revealed persistent tumor shrinkage and complete response at the latest time of examination (Figure 1B); the treatment is ongoing. Case 2 Spiking fever developed after each time of anti-PD-1 treatment. Follow-up C...