Sorafenib is currently a targeted agent widely used in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (aHCC). However, to date there is still a lack of a reliable marker capable of predicting sorafenib therapeutic responses. Here, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify candidate single-nucleotide polymorphism outcome predictors in aHCC patients. A total of 74 real-world sorafenib-treated aHCC patients were enrolled for GWAS and outcome analysis. GWAS showed that rs1010816 (p = 2.2 × 10-7) was associated with sorafenib therapeutic response in aHCC patients. Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that the "TT" genotype was significantly associated with a favorable therapeutic response but not significantly associated with overall survival (OS). Univariate followed by multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis showed that ascites, main portal vein thrombosis, lower platelet count, lower total sorafenib doses, higher PALBI score in model A and higher ALBI grade in model B were significantly associated with a shorter OS. Subgroup analysis showed that only in alcoholic aHCC patients treated by sorafenib, rs1010816 "TT" genotype was significantly associated with longer OS (p = 0.021). Sorafenib had a favorable therapeutic outcome in alcoholic aHCC patients carrying rs1010816 "TT" genotype.
Keywords: advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (aHCC); genome-wide association study (GWAS); overall survival (OS).