High serum IL-6 correlates with reduced clinical benefit of atezolizumab and bevacizumab in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Background & Aims: We elucidated the clinical and immunologic implications of serum IL-6 levels in patients with unre-sectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with atezolizumab and bevacizumab (Ate/Bev).Methods: We prospectively enrolled 165 patients with unresectable HCC (discovery cohort: 84 patients from three centres; validation cohort: 81 patients from one centre). Baseline blood samples were analysed using a flow cytometric bead array. The tumour immune microenvironment was analysed using RNA sequencing.Results: In the discovery cohort, clinical benefit 6 months (CB6m) was defined as complete or partial response, or stable disease for >-6 months. Among various blood-based biomarkers, serum IL-6 levels were significantly higher in participants without CB6m than in those with CB6m (mean 11.56 vs. 5.05 pg/ml, p = 0.02). Using maximally selected rank statistics, the optimal cut-off value for high IL-6 was determined as 18.49 pg/ml, and 15.2% of participants were found to have high IL-6 levels at baseline. In both the discovery and validation cohorts, participants with high baseline IL-6 levels had a reduced response rate and worse progression-free and overall survival after Ate/Bev treatment compared with those with low baseline IL-6 levels. In multivariable Cox regression analysis, the clinical implications of high IL-6 levels persisted, even after adjusting for various confounding factors. Participants with high IL-6 levels showed reduced interferon -c and tumour necrosis factor -a secretion from CD8+ T cells. Moreover, excess IL-6 suppressed cytokine production and proliferation of CD8+ T cells. Finally, participants with high IL-6 levels exhibited a non-T-cell-inflamed immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment.Conclusions: High baseline IL-6 levels can be associated with poor clinical outcomes and impaired T-cell function in patients with unresectable HCC after Ate/Bev treatment.Impact and implications: Although patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who respond to treatment with atezolizumab and bevacizumab exhibit favourable clinical outcomes, a fraction of these still experience primary resistance. We found that high baseline serum levels of IL-6 correlate with poor clinical outcomes and impaired T-cell response in patients with he-patocellular carcinoma treated with atezolizumab and bevacizumab.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study investigated the clinical and immunological implications of serum IL-6 levels in patients with unresectable HCC treated with atezolizumab and bevacizumab (Ate/Bev). The study found that high baseline IL-6 levels were associated with poor clinical outcomes and impaired T-cell function.