AIM: To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of systemic chemo-immunotherapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).METHODS: Twenty-six patients with advanced HCC were treated by using systemic chemo-immunotherapy (PIAF regimen), which consisted of cisplatin (20 mg/m2) intravenously daily for 4 consecutive day, doxorubicin (40 mg/m2)intravenously on day 1, 5-fiuorouracil (400 mg/m2)intravenously daily for 4 consecutive day, and human recombinant α-interferon-2a (5 Mu/m2) subcutaneous injection daily for 4 consecutive day. The treatment was repeated every 3 wk, with a maximum of six cycles.RESULTS: A total of 90 cycles of PIAF treatment were administered, with a mean number of 3.9 cycles per patient.Eight patients received six cycles of treatment (group A),and the remaining 18 were subjected to two to five cycles (group B). There were 0 complete response, 4 partial responses, 9 static diseases and 13 progressive diseases,with a disease control rate of 50% (13/26). The 1-year survival rate was 24.3%, with a median survival time of 6.0 mo. Group A had a remarkably better survival as compared with group B, the 1- and 2-year survival rates were 62.5% vs 6.1% and 32.3% vs 0%, and a median survival time was 12.5 mo vs 5.0 mo (P = 0.001).CONCLUSION: Systemic chemo-immunotherapy using PIAF regimen represented an effective treatment and could improve the survival rate and prolong the survival time in selected patients with advanced HCC.