Combination of the Deacetylase Inhibitor Panobinostat and the Multi-Kinase Inhibitor Sorafenib for the Treatment of Metastatic Hepatocellular Carcinoma - Review of the Underlying Molecular Mechanisms and First Case Report

Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma still represents an unmet medical need that has only a limited overall survival despite the introduction of the multi-kinase inhibitor sorafenib. Recently, inhibitors of histone and other protein deacetylases have been established as novel therapeutic approaches to cancer diseases. We here review the molecular rationale for combining these two novel targeted therapies and report a patient with metastasized hepatocellular carcinoma who showed a partial remission of primary and metastatic lesions for five months after a combination therapy with sorafenib and the orally available pan-deacetylase inhibitor panobinostat.