SynthesisBMC cancer2024
Efficacy and safety of second-line therapies for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in BMC cancer, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Comparative efficacy and safety of second-line therapies for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Repositioned donafenib versus standard regorafenib for second-line HCC treatment: A matched cohort study.Medicine · 2026Article
- ESIRA, a novel framework integrating efficacy and safety for evaluating first-line treatments in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Article
- Distinct cMET inhibitors uncover pharmacological heterogeneity in SHH medulloblastoma cell lines.Discover oncology · 2026Article
- [Chinese expert consensus on the use of standardized second-line drugs for primary hepatocellular carcinoma].Zhonghua gan zang bing za zhi = Zhonghua ganzangbing zazhi = Chinese journal of hepatology · 2026Article
- Targeting Kinase Suppressor of Ras 1 (KSR1) for Cancer Therapy.Pharmaceutics · 2025Review
- Overexpression and clinicopathological significance of zinc finger protein 71 in hepatocellular carcinoma.World journal of hepatology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe selection of appropriate second-line therapy for liver cancer after first-line treatment failure poses a significant clinical challenge due to the lack of direct comparative studies and standard treatment protocols. A network meta-analysis (NMA) provides a robust method to systematically evaluate the clinical outcomes and adverse effects of various second-line treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
methodsWe systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library to identify phase III/IV randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published up to March 11, 2024. The outcomes extracted were median overall survival (OS), median progression-free survival (PFS), time to disease progression (TTP), disease control rate (DCR), objective response rate (ORR), and adverse reactions. This study was registered in the Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42023427843) to ensure transparency, novelty, and reliability.
resultsWe included 16 RCTs involving 7,005 patients and 10 second-line treatments. For advanced HCC patients, regorafenib (HR = 0.62, 95%CI: 0.53-0.73) and cabozantinib (HR = 0.74, 95%CI: 0.63-0.85) provided the best OS benefits compared to placebo. Cabozantinib (HR = 0.42, 95%CI: 0.32-0.55) and regorafenib (HR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.31-0.68) also offered the most significant PFS benefits. For TTP, apatinib (HR = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.33-0.57), ramucirumab (HR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.34-0.57), and regorafenib (HR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.38-0.51) showed significant benefits over placebo. Regarding ORR, ramucirumab (OR = 9.90, 95% CI: 3.40-42.98) and S-1 (OR = 8.68, 95% CI: 1.4-154.68) showed the most significant increases over placebo. Apatinib (OR = 3.88, 95% CI: 2.48-6.10) and cabozantinib (OR = 3.53, 95% CI: 2.54-4.90) provided the best DCR benefits compared to placebo. Tivantinib showed the most significant advantages in terms of three different safety outcome measures.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that, in terms of overall efficacy and safety, regorafenib and cabozantinib are the optimal second-line treatment options for patients with advanced HCC.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.