Prognostic significance of circulating immune-inflammatory biomarkers IL-6 and systemic immune-inflammation index in hepatocellular carcinoma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by a chronic inflammatory and immunologically dysregulated microenvironment. Circulating immune-inflammatory biomarkers reflect systemic biochemical and immune alterations and may provide laboratory-accessible indicators for prognosis assessment. However, the prognostic value of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) in HCC patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) remains incompletely defined.

METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was conducted across PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, and Wanfang Data to identify cohort studies evaluating circulating IL-6 and/or SII in HCC patients treated with ICIs. Hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were pooled using fixedor random-effects models. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed to explore sources of heterogeneity.