The cancer on which we focus our research is primary liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This tumor mainly (but not only) occurs in patients with underlying liver cirrhosis (where fatty liver disease or MASLD is an important and growing cause). When these tumors are discovered at an early stage and if the patient's condition permits, surgical removal or liver transplantation can lead to a cure. In patients in whom the tumor is too extensive locally and no metastases outside the liver are yet present, local chemotherapy administered via the hepatic artery (also called transarterial chemoembolization) can be a life-prolonging but not curative treatment (survival 24-48 months). However, many patients (up to 30%) are only diagnosed at an advanced stage (locally advanced or with metastases), requiring treatment for systemic therapy.

Despite the breakthrough in 2020 with the new systemic standard treatment for advanced HCC consisting of immunotherapy and a blood vessel inhibitor, the added value in terms of survival is relatively limited, with an expected survival of approximately 1 year. Moreover, this treatment is the same regardless of the underlying liver disease that led to the development of liver cancer. This project mainly focuses on new combination therapy options for patients with MASLD-HCC, whose life expectancy is still very limited.