New chemotherapy for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: Pilot study of beta-interferon and doxorubicin one-shot intra-arterial chemotherapy.
BACKGROUND
Patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) need an effective treatment modality because of the poor prognosis of the disease. From an in vitro study, beta-interferon (IFN-beta) has been reported to enhance the antiproliferative effects of doxorubicin on HCC cell lines. In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic effects of combined IFN-beta and doxorubicin intra-arterial injection therapy on patients with advanced HCC.


METHODS
IFN-beta (3 MIU) and doxorubicin (10 mg/bodyweight) were given by one-shot intra-arterial injection through an arterial port to patients with advanced HCC. One treatment course consisted of three intra-arterial injections per week for 4 weeks. Three courses were conducted and evaluation was done monthly.


RESULTS
Eleven patients with advanced HCC were treated with combined IFN-beta and doxorubicin. One patient enteredcomplete remission (CR), seven patients were evaluated as having stable disease (SD) and three as having progressive disease (PD). The mean overall survival was 10 months. The mean survival for CR and SD patients was 15 months, and that for PD patients was 6 months (P = 0.0464, log-rank test). Decrease of serum total bilirubin was observed for all patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Combined IFN-beta and doxorubicin intra-arterial therapy offers an effective chemotherapy option for patients with advanced HCC by improving liver function and having tolerable side-effects.
Uyama
Hirokazu
H
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
Nagano
Hiroaki
H
Nakamura
Hideji
H
Murakami
Takamichi
T
Nakamura
Hironobu
H
Monden
Morito
M
Hayashi
Norio
N