Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41059468›Full record

ArticleJournal of hepatocellular carcinoma2025

Early PIVKA-II Response Associated with Treatment Efficacy and Survival Outcomes for Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Receiving Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors and Targeted Therapy.

Zheng-Kang Fang, Yu-Ting Xiao, Xia Feng, Zhe-Jin Shi, Si-Yu Liu, Yang Yu, Li-Ming Jin, Dong-Sheng Huang, Cheng-Wu Zhang, Jun-Wei Liu and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of hepatocellular carcinoma, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Development and validation of a personalized web-based calculator of aggressive recurrence after surgery for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma by machine learning.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Zheng-Kang FangDepartment of General Surgery, Cancer Center, Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
Yu-Ting XiaoDepartment of General Surgery, Cancer Center, Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
Xia FengDepartment of General Surgery, Cancer Center, Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
Zhe-Jin ShiDepartment of General Surgery, Cancer Center, Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0003-6045-0003
Si-Yu LiuDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, the Key Laboratory of Imaging Diagnosis and Minimally Invasive Interventional Research of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University Lishui Hospital, Lishui, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
Yang YuDepartment of Urology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Li-Ming JinDepartment of General Surgery, Cancer Center, Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
Dong-Sheng HuangDepartment of General Surgery, Cancer Center, Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
Cheng-Wu ZhangDepartment of General Surgery, Cancer Center, Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
Jun-Wei LiuDepartment of General Surgery, Cancer Center, Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
Lei LiangDepartment of General Surgery, Cancer Center, Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0000-0003-3294-2978

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background & Aims: Prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence-II (PIVKA-II) levels have been reported to correlate with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis, but its utility for assessing early treatment response remains underexplored. This study evaluated early PIVKA-II changes for predicting response and survival in HCC patients undergoing immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and targeted therapy. Methods: Eighty-two HCC patients were enrolled. Serum PIVKA-II levels were measured at baseline and after the first treatment cycle. Patients were stratified based on early PIVKA-II dynamics into a biochemical response group (≥50% reduction, n=40) and a non-response group (<50% reduction, n=42). Logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models were used to identify predictors of objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Results: Time-dependent ROC analysis established ≥50% PIVKA-II decline as the early response threshold. The PIVKA-II response group had a significantly higher proportion of patients with Child-Pugh A, a lower incidence of extrahepatic metastasis, and significantly higher ORR (82.5% vs 38.1%, P<0.001). Median PFS and OS were not reached in the PIVKA-II responder group, compared to 8.9 months and 16.7 months, respectively, in the non-responder group (both P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis confirmed early PIVKA-II response as an independent predictor of PFS (HR=0.687, P<0.001) and OS (HR=0.709, P<0.001). Notably, in AFP-negative patients, an early PIVKA-II response was predictive of ORR and was associated with significantly longer PFS and OS. Conclusion: Early PIVKA-II response effectively predicts treatment response and prognosis in advanced HCC patients receiving ICI and targeted therapy, especially in AFP-negative patients.

Indexed as

hepatocellular carcinomaimmune checkpoint inhibitorsobjective response ratePIVKA-IItarget therapy

Identifiers

PMID41059468
PMCPMC12499569

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Registered trials

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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.