Second-line therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with regorafenib or cabozantinib: Multicenter French clinical experience in real-life after matching

Table 3 Patient characteristics prior to second-line treatment with cabometyx or regorafenib: Matching-adjusted comparison study

Characteristics at baseline	Cabozantinib (n = 25)	Regorafenib (n = 25)	P value
Age–median (Q1Q3), yr	69 (60-74)	68 (58-72)	0.7870
Gender, n (%)			1.0000
Male	23 (92)	22 (88)
Female	2 (8)	3 (12)
Etiology of HCC, n (%)			0.6370
Alcohol	6 (24)	10 (40)
Virus/virus + alcohol	8 (32)/4 (16)	7 (28)/2 (8)
NASH	4 (16)	2 (8)
Other	3 (12)	4 (16)
PS, n (%)			0.4591
0	9 (36)	8 (29)
1	9 (36)	10 (42)
2	7 (28)	7 (29)
Esophageal varices1, n (%)	10 (42)	10 (45)	0.7957
Macrovascular invasion, n (%)	12 (48)	14 (58)	0.4687
Extrahepatic disease, n (%)	10 (40)	13 (54)	0.3206
Child-Pugh class, n (%)			0.5512
A	18 (72)	15 (60)
B	7 (28)	10 (40)
BCLC, n (%)			0.7585
B	5 (20)	5 (20)
C	20 (80)	20 (80)
AFP, ng/mL, n (%)			0.5713
< 400	12 (48)	14 (56)
≥ 400	13 (52)	11 (44)
Morphology2, n (%)			0.2393
Diffuse	7 (29)	4 (14)
Mass	4 (17)	9 (36)
Multinodular	13 (54)	12 (50)
Maximal tumor diameter, mm–median (Q1Q3)	74 (38-130)	70 (40-94)	0.6067
Hemoglobin g/dL–median (Q1Q3)	13 (12-13.9)	12.5 (10-13.7)	0.2875
Platelet’s count (× 100/L)–median (Q1Q3)	148 (95-193)	152 (97-206)	0.6229
Neutrophil count/L–median (Q1Q3)	3150 (1970-3760)	4100 (3000-5676)	0.0276
Lymphocyte count/L–median (Q1Q3)	1140 (810-1700)	940 (739-1600)	0.5828
Neutrophil-to-lymphocyteratio, n (%)			0.1564
≤ 3	16 (64)	10 (40)
> 3	9 (36)	15 (60)
CRP, mg/L–median (Q1Q3)	14.5 (7.2-41.1)	32 (8-65)	0.2900
AST, IU/L–median (Q1Q3)	75 (56-134)	64 (4 6-79)	0.0940
ALT, IU/L–median (Q1Q3)	48 (33-77)	30 (26-47)	0.0556
GGT, IU/L–median (Q1Q3)	179 (99-360)	187 (112-322)	0.7925
ALP, IU/L–median (Q1Q3)	162 (138-252)	203 (122-269)	0.6094
Total bilirubin, μmol/L–median (Q1Q3)	17.5 (14-29)	15.6 (12-27)	0.5123
Albumin, g/L–median (Q1Q3)	36 (29-39)	31.6 (28-35)	0.1772
Creatinine, μmol/L–median (Q1Q3)	69 (57-89)	72 (58-91)	0.4996
Prothrombin time, %–median (Q1Q3)	80 (68-100)	71 (61-78)	0.0792
Duration of prior Sorafenib treatment, months–median (Q1Q3)	3 (1.7-4.1)	3.2 (2.7-10.9)	0.1865

¹Esophageal varices, Cabozantinib (CBZ): Missing data n = 1; Regorafenib (REG): Missing data n = 3.

²Hepatocellular carcinoma morphology, patients with metastatic recurrence and without intrahepatic tumor, CBZ n = 1.

HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; NASH: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; PS: Performance status; BCLC: Barcelona clinic liver cancer; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; CRP: C-reactive protein; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; GGT: γ-Glutamyl transpeptidase; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase.