Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), together with metabolic syndrome and obesity, has shown a rapid increase in prevalence worldwide and is emerging as a major cause of chronic liver disease and liver transplantation. Among the various phenotypes of NAFLD, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is highly likely to progress to development of end-stage liver disease and cardiometabolic disease, resulting in liver-related and non-liver-related mortality. Nonetheless, there is no standardized pharmacotherapy against NASH and many drugs are under development in ongoing clinical trials. To develop a successful anti-NASH drug, it is necessary to select an appropriate target population and treatment outcomes depending on whether the mode of action is anti-metabolic, anti-inflammatory or anti-fibrotic. Recently, innovative surrogate markers have been investigated to replace hard outcomes such as liver histology and mortality and reduce the clinical trial duration. Currently, several drugs with fast track designation are being tested in phase III clinical trials, and many other drugs have moved into phase II clinical trials. Both lean NAFLD and typical obese NAFLD have been extensively studied and genetic variants such as PNPLA3 and TM6SF2 have been identified as significant risk factors for lean NAFLD. In the near future, noninvasive biomarkers and effective targeted therapies for NASH and associated fibrosis are required to develop precision medicine and tailored therapy according to various phenotypes of NAFLD.
252 Background: Resminostat is an oral hydroxamate-type inhibitor of class I, IIB, and IV histone deacetylases. A European Phase II study of second-line combination therapy with resminostat and sorafenib for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients (pts) revealed a promising improvement in overall survival (OS). Here we report the findings on safety and efficacy of an Asian Phase I/II study on first-line combination therapy with sorafenib and resminostat in HCC pts. Methods: Pts with advanced or metastatic HCC considered Child-Pugh A and ECOG 0/1 were enrolled in Japan and Korea. Sorafenib was administered at 400 mg (bid) in both Phase I and II. Resminostat was administered on days 1 to 5 every 14 days. In Phase I, the dose of resminostat was escalated from 400 mg/day (DL1) to 600 mg/day (DL2). In Phase II, pts were randomly assigned to sorafenib monotherapy or sorafenib/resminostat combination therapy at a ratio of 1:1. The primary endpoint was time to progression (TTP). Tumor response was assessed according to RECIST version 1.1 every 6 weeks. Results: A total of 9 pts were enrolled in Phase I (DL1, 3 pts; DL2, 6 pts). Higher incidences of G3-4 toxicities, including one DLT (G4 thrombocytopenia), were observed at DL2. Therefore, DL1 was determined as the recommended dose for Phase II. A total of 170 pts were enrolled in Phase II. The median TTP was 2.8 months in the combination and control arm, respectively (HR: 0.984). No significant difference was observed in the median OS. Retrospective analysis revealed favorable results for the combination option in certain subgroups: for example, HBV+ (TTP: HR, 0.630; OS: HR, 0.846); no prior therapy (TTP: HR, 0.629; OS: HR, 0.590); and platelet count > = 151.000 (TTP: HR, 0.646; OS: HR, 0.509). Conclusions: Although the primary endpoint was not reached in this Phase II all-comer HCC study, the results of the subgroup analysis suggest a population-specific effect for the combination therapy, especially in one which is HBV+. This warrants the further development of this combination as first-line therapy in a well-defined subset of pts with advanced HCC. Clinical trial information: NCT02400788.
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