Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42112317›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in immunology2026

The SAGES scoring model leads to personalized treatment via the combination of TACE, TKIs and ICIs for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hesheng Lin, Xueyao Wang, Jianhong Zhong, Ning Peng, Shaoping Liu, Fanjian Zeng, Wenfeng Li, Ze Su, Junjie Ou, Peisheng Wu and 2 more

Abstract readMulticenter StudyValidation Study
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in immunology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Hesheng Lin *Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, China.
Xueyao Wang *Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, China.
Jianhong Zhong *Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, China.
Ning PengDepartment of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.
Shaoping LiuDepartment of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Eighth Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Guigang, China.
Fanjian ZengDepartment of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Wuzhou Red Cross Hospital, Wuzhou, China.
Wenfeng LiDepartment of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, First People's Hospital of Yulin, Yulin, China.
Ze SuDepartment of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, First People's Hospital of Nanning, Nanning, China.
Junjie OuDepartment of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Wuzhou People's Hospital, Wuzhou, China.
Peisheng WuDepartment of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, First People's Hospital of Qinzhou, Qinzhou, China.
Hongbing YaoDepartment of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, China.
Shuqun LiDepartment of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background and aims: Transcatheter chemoembolization (TACE) combined with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) shows promising efficacy in treating unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC), but the specific patient population that would benefit most from this regimen remains unclear. This study aims to evaluate the prognoses of uHCC patients receiving triple therapy and develop a practical prognostic scoring model to identify those with the best beneficial. Methods: This multicenter retrospective study enrolled 270 uHCC patients who received first-line triple therapy across 20 centers. These participants were divided into the training (n=190) and external validation (n=80) cohorts. Treatment response was assessed by the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST), and safety was evaluated via treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) using National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0 (NCI-CTCAE v5.0). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to identify independent prognostic factors for overall survival, which were utilized to develop the SAGES score; Kaplan-Meier curves and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were employed to validate the model's performance. Results: In the training cohort, the objective response rate was 47.9% and disease control rate was 63.2%. The median progression-free survival was 15.9 months, with 3-year overall survival and progression-free survival rates of 52.2% and 30.7%, respectively. Independent prognostic factors for poor overall survival included albumin-bilirubin grade 2-3, alpha-fetoprotein ≥400 ng/mL, maximum tumor size ≥8 cm, presence of extrahepatic metastasis, and absence of conversion surgery. Integrating these five factors, the SAGES score effectively stratified patients into low- (0-3 points), intermediate- (4-7 points), and high-risk (8-10 points) groups with significantly divergent survival outcomes in both cohorts (all p<0.001). The model exhibited robust discriminative ability, with AUCs of 0.78 in the training cohort and 0.75 in the validation cohort, outperforming individual prognostic factors. Conclusion: Triple therapy showed promising clinical outcomes and the SAGES score provides reliable prognostic stratification and facilitates personalized treatment decisions for uHCC patients receiving this triple regimen.

Indexed as

Carcinoma, HepatocellularChemoembolization, TherapeuticImmune Checkpoint InhibitorsLiver NeoplasmsProtein Kinase InhibitorsAgedCombined Modality TherapyFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPrecision MedicinePrognosisRetrospective StudiesTreatment OutcomeImmune Checkpoint InhibitorsProtein Kinase Inhibitorsimmune checkpoint inhibitoroverall survivalprogression-free survivalsages scoretransarterial chemoembolizationtyrosine kinase inhibitorunresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Identifiers

PMID42112317
PMCPMC13149280

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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.