Regorafenib compared to nivolumab after sorafenib failure in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Which systemic therapy should be administered following sorafenib failure for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still a debated issue in clinical practice. This study aimed to compare regorafenib with nivolumab after sorafenib failure in patients with HCC. MEDLINE via PubMed, Scopus and Embase databases were searched for studies published until December 2021. The risk of bias (RoB) was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration tool for assessing risk of bias in randomized trials. From a total of 2120 articles, 3 papers were included in this meta-analysis. We found a statistically significant difference in the patient's objective response rate between the regorafenib and nivolumab groups (odds ratio (OR): 0.296, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.161-0.544, p = 0.000). A statistically significant difference between regorafenib and nivolumab was not found for disease control rate after sorafenib failure in patients with advanced HCC (OR: 1.111, 95% CI: 0.793-1.557, p = 0.541) nor the number of progressive disease events (OR: 0.972, 95% CI: 0.693-1.362, p = 0.867). Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were not calculable. The heterogeneity of the included data was low. Nivolumab monotherapy appears superior to regorafenib after sorafenib failure in patients with advanced HCC.