Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Liver cancer

Regorafenib as second-line therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 14, pages 141–142 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Drug development in hepatocellular carcinoma had essentially stalled since 2008 when sorafenib was established as the modest standard of care. Now, a positive result in a phase III study evaluating regorafenib challenges us to weigh its clinical significance as well as its real-world benefits and potential harms.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Llovet, J. M. et al. Sorafenib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. N. Engl. J. Med. 359, 378–390 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Sun, H. C. et al. Microvessel density of hepatocellular carcinoma: its relationship with prognosis. J. Cancer Res. Clin. Oncol. 125, 419–426 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Llovet, J. M., Villanueva, A., Lachenmayer, A. & Finn, R. S. Advances in targeted therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma in the genomic era. Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. 12, 408–424 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Bruix, J. et al. Regorafenib for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who progressed on sorafenib treatment (RESORCE): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. Lancet 389, 56–66 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Wilhelm, S. M. et al. Regorafenib (BAY 73-4506): a new oral multikinase inhibitor of angiogenic, stromal and oncogenic receptor tyrosine kinases with potent preclinical antitumor activity. Int. J. Cancer 129, 245–255 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Scher, K. S. & Hurria, A. Under-representation of older adults in cancer registration trials: known problem, little progress. J. Clin. Oncol. 30, 2036–2038 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Mailankody, S. & Prasad, V. Overall survival in cancer drug trials as a new surrogate end point for overall survival in the real world. JAMA Oncol. http:dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2016.5296 (2016).

  8. Abou-Alfa, G. K. et al. Safety and efficacy of sorafenib in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and Child-Pugh A versus B cirrhosis. Gastrointest. Cancer Res. 4, 40–44 (2011).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Sanoff, H. K., Chang Y., Lund, J. L., O'Neil, B. H. & Dusetzina, S. B. Sorafenib effectiveness in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Oncologist 21, 1113–1120 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gastrointestinal Malignancy Section, Thoracic and Gastrointestinal Oncology Branch Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Building 10, Bethesda, 20892, Maryland, USA

    Austin G. Duffy & Tim F. Greten

Authors
  1. Austin G. Duffy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tim F. Greten
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Both authors researched data for the article and contributed to the discussion of content for the article. A.G.D. wrote the article and T.F.G. reviewed and edited the manuscript before submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tim F. Greten.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Duffy, A., Greten, T. Regorafenib as second-line therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 14, 141–142 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2017.7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2017.7

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing