Chemosensitivity in primary liver cancers: evaluation of the correlation between chemosensitivity and clinicopathological factors.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to investigate the correlation of the chemosensitivity of primary liver cancers and the clinicopathological factors.


METHODS
The correlation of the chemosensitivity was investigated along with the associated clinicopathological factors, using 229 cases with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 8 with cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC), ,who all underwent hepatic resection. Chemosensitivity was determined by a succinate dehydrogenase inhibition assay.


RESULTS
The overall rate of chemosensitivity among the HCCs was as follows: 34.8% to adriamycin, 40.5% to mitomycin C, 38.2% to cisplatin, respectively, while the resistant rate to all drugs tested was 50.9%. The chemoresistant rate of the HCCs with hepatitis C tended to be higher (62%) than that of the HCCs with hepatitis B (50%). In the HCCs, there was no definite correlation between the chemosensitivity to each drug and the histological findings, while there seemed to be a positive correlation between the chemoresistant rate and the poor prognostic risk factors, such as vascular invasion and intrahepatic metastasis. In CCCs, the chemoresistant rate to all drugs tested was 77.7%, moreover, both the age and the CA 19-9 level in the chemosensitive group were significantly higher than those in the chemoresistant group.


CONCLUSIONS
HCC with hepatitis C, as well as the higher degree of malignant potentials such as vascular invasion, intrahepatic metastasis and poor differentiation tended to be resistant to all 3 drugs tested. CCC was also highly resistant to all 3 drugs tested. For such resistant tumors, the drug-resistant mechanism urgently needs to be identified as soon as possible.
Cancer Center, Kyushu University Hospital, Japan.
M
M
Shimada
K
K
Takenaka
N
N
Kawahara
K
K
Yamamoto
K
K
Shirabe
Y
Y
Maehara
K
K
Sugimachi
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D018281:Cholangiocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D013385:Succinate Dehydrogenase
D013385:Succinate Dehydrogenase