levoleucovorin and Hepatitis-B--Chronic

We have previously reported that intra-arterial chemotherapy prolongs the survival of patients with advanced HCC (aHCC); however, whether the response to intra-arterial chemotherapy depends on the etiology of underlying liver cirrhosis (LC) is still unknown.. The aim of this study was to assess any influences of the etiology of LC on the response to combined intra-arterial chemotherapy for aHCC.. A total of 53 adult Japanese LC patients (46 men and 7 women) with aHCC were treated with combined intra-arterial chemotherapy between 2002 and 2007 at our hospital. All of the patients had a Japan Integrated Staging (JIS) score of 3 or 4. Their tumors were inoperable according to computed tomography findings. Combined intra-arterial chemotherapy was administered via the proper hepatic artery every 5 days for 4 weeks and the chemotherapy regimen was continued for as long as possible.. There were 15 patients with HBV infection (B-LC group), 29 patients with HCV infection (C-LC group), and nine patients with alcoholic cirrhosis (A-LC group). The percentage of patients with a complete or partial response after 4 weeks of chemotherapy was 0% in the B-LC group versus 31.0% in the C-LC group and 44.4% in the A-LC group. The survival of the A-LC and C-LC groups was significantly longer than that of the B-LC group with the median survival time being 688, 368, and 211 days, respectively.. Combined intra-arterial chemotherapy might be more effective for aHCC in patients with A-LC or C-LC than in patients with B-LC.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Cisplatin; Female; Fluorouracil; Hepatitis B, Chronic; Hepatitis C, Chronic; Humans; Infusions, Intra-Arterial; Japan; Leucovorin; Liver Cirrhosis; Liver Neoplasms; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; Survival Rate; Treatment Outcome

It is known that tumors develop mechanisms to escape from the immune system and to inhibit antitumor responses. The aim of this study was to retrospectively assess changes of host immunity in relation to efficacy in liver cirrhosis (LC) patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (aHCC) treated by combined intra-arterial chemotherapy.. Thirty-seven adult Japanese LC patients with aHCC were treated by intra-arterial combination chemotherapy. The control group was composed of 19 adult Japanese patients with chronic hepatitis C diagnosed by pathological examination of liver biopsy specimens. All control patients were stage 1 according to the fibrosis score of Desment.. Ten of the 37 patients (group PR) showed a partial response and 17 of the 37 patients (group SD) showed stable disease, but 10 of the 37 patients (group PD) showed no response. There were no significant differences in the percentage of Th1 cells between any of the groups either before or after chemotherapy. The percentage of Th2 cells was significantly higher in group PD before and after chemotherapy than in the control group (P < 0.05 by Tukey's test). Although there was no significant difference, the percentage of Th2 cells was higher in group SD than in group PR.. The percentage of Th2 cells increased in LC patients with aHCC as the efficacy of intra-arterial combination chemotherapy decreased. These results indicated that intra-arterial chemotherapy might be not useful for patients with aHCC, because it induces Th2 dominant host immunity.

Topics: Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Case-Control Studies; Cisplatin; Female; Flow Cytometry; Fluorouracil; Hepatitis B, Chronic; Hepatitis C, Chronic; Humans; Immunity; Infusions, Intra-Arterial; Leucovorin; Liver Cirrhosis; Liver Neoplasms; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; Retrospective Studies; Survival Rate; Th1 Cells; Th2 Cells; Treatment Outcome