Phase 2 study of pembrolizumab and circulating biomarkers to predict anticancer response in advanced, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

Pembrolizumab was found to demonstrate activity in patients with advanced HCC. Toxicity generally was tolerable and reversible. A set of immunological markers in blood plasma as well as PD-L1 staining indicated that baseline TGF-β could be a predictive biomarker for response to pembrolizumab.