Management of hepatocellular carcinoma: beyond sorafenib.

The positive results of sorafenib have unveiled a new direction of research in the management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Since then intensive efforts have been focused on development of novel management strategy to further improve the outcome for patients with HCC. Emerging data have suggested that tumor progression of HCC is driven by a number of deregulated signaling pathways and/or epigenetic mechanism. Thus much effort is dedicated to identification of novel agents targeting these dysregulated pathways. Combinations of targeted therapeutics and transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), or different systemic therapeutics also hold the promise to improve treatment outcome beyond sorafenib. This review aims to summarize the current status of clinical development of treatment in HCC. Perspectives on future direction of research will also be discussed.