Patient description: A 53-year-old man presents with chronic HCV infection for the past 2 years. His past medical history is only significant for inguinal hernia surgery when he was 20 years old. He is on IFN (100 mg/week) plus RBV (400 mg/day) combination therapy for the past 9 months. Direct antiviral drugs were added to his treatment 6 months ago. His medical record shows previous positive HCV RNA tests as well as positive enzyme immunoassay for anti-HCV-antibodies. The recent biopsy was negative for hepatocellular carcinoma and was only remarkable for chronic inflammation compatible with a chronic viral hepatitis. There is no evidence of alcoholic liver disease, bleeding from esophageal varices, hemochromatosis, autoimmune hepatitis or metabolic liver disease. He is an alert male with no acute distress. His BP: 130/75, HR: 90/min and BMI: 27. His abdomen is soft with no ascites or tenderness. The lower extremities are normal with no edema.

Clinical trial eligibility criteria: eligible ages (years): 18.0-999.0,  Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma BCLC Stage B Hepatocellular Carcinoma BCLC Stage C Hepatocellular Carcinoma Must have a histologically confirmed diagnosis of HCC or a non-invasive diagnosis of HCC as per the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) If available, archival tissue must be submitted Mixed HCC-cholangiocarcinoma is not allowed Patient has Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage C disease, or BCLC stage B disease that is not amenable to locoregional therapy or refractory to locoregional therapy, and not amenable to curative treatment Previous locoregional therapy is allowed (e.g. surgical resection, external beam radiation, catheter-based therapy), and patients must have evidence of disease progression from locoregional therapy Must have measurable disease by v1.1 Lesions that were previously radiated or ablated cannot be target lesions unless there was subsequent radiographic progression at those sites No prior systemic therapy for HCC. Prior chemotherapy given locally into the liver (e.g. transarterial chemoembolization [TACE]) is allowed Must have Child-Pugh class A hepatic function within 7 days prior to first dose of study intervention Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-1  Prior treatment with any systemic therapy for HCC, including anti-VEGF therapy or any systemic investigational agent If the patient previously received systemic treatment for reasons other than HCC: small molecule kinase inhibitors are not allowed within 2 weeks and cytotoxic/biologic agents are not allowed within 4 weeks of study treatment Prior exposure to immune checkpoint inhibitors or other immunotherapeutic agents Currently participating in or has participated in a study of an investigational agent or device within 4 weeks prior to the first dose of study treatment Major surgery within 6 weeks or minor surgery (e.g. dental extraction) within 10 days prior to first dose of study treatment Complete wound healing from major surgery must have occurred at least 1 month before first dose and from minor surgery (e.g. simple excision, tooth extraction) at least 7 days before first dose. Subjects with clinically relevant ongoing complications from prior surgery are not eligible Local liver-directed therapy within 4 weeks of initiating study treatment Palliative radiation for the purpose of symptomatic relief to non-liver and non-central nervous system (CNS) disease within 2 weeks of starting treatment. Other radiation treatments within 4 weeks of starting treatment Patients must have recovered from all radiation-related toxicities, not require corticosteroids, and have not had radiation pneumonitis Prior liver or other allogenic tissue/organ transplantation