Pediatric hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and fibrolamellar carcinoma are rare, aggressive forms of liver cancer that typically affect adolescents and young adults. Although some immunotherapy drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration as first-line treatments for HCC in adults, less is known about their effectiveness in treating pediatric liver carcinomas.
Now, new research led by Allison O’Neill, MD, director of the Liver Tumor Center at the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, suggests that a class of immunotherapy drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors might be an effective treatment option for a select group of pediatric patients with liver carcinomas.
Testing checkpoint inhibitors for pediatric
