title: Postoperative dendritic cell vaccine plus activated T-cell transfer improves the survival of patients with invasive hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: The recurrence rate after surgery in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is very high, while prognosis is quite poor. However, there is no standard treatment to prevent recurrence of HCC after a curative operation. In this study, we investigated the clinical utilization of an autologous tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine plus ex vivo activated T cell transfer (ATVAC) in an adjuvant setting for postoperative HCC as a non-randomized controlled trial. Ninety-four patients with invasive HCC received informed consent information regarding the study, and 42 opted to have the ATVAC after surgery. Their recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were measured after 5 years and compared with those of 52 patients who selected to have the curative operation alone. The median RFS and OS were 24.5 months and 97.7 months in the patients receiving adjuvant ATVAC and 12.6 months and 41.0 months in the group receiving surgery alone (P = 0.011 and 0.029). In the treated group, patients with positive delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) had a better prognosis (RFS P = 0.019, OS P = 0.025). No adverse events of grade 3 or more were observed. A postoperative dendritic cell vaccine plus activated T cell transfer would be a feasible and effective treatment for preventing recurrence in HCC patients and achieving long-term survival especially in DTH positive patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery; Tokyo Women's Medical University; Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery; Tokyo Women's Medical University; Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kotera
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery; Tokyo Women's Medical University; Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan; Institute of Advanced Biomedical Engineering and Science; Tokyo Women's Medical University; Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aruga
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery; Tokyo Women's Medical University; Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takeshita
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery; Tokyo Women's Medical University; Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Katagiri
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery; Tokyo Women's Medical University; Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shun-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ariizumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery; Tokyo Women's Medical University; Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery; Tokyo Women's Medical University; Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshitoshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery; Tokyo Women's Medical University; Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery; Tokyo Women's Medical University; Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000628:therapy*; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D065228:Non-Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D012008:Recurrence; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019496:Cancer Vaccines
keywords: adjuvant therapy; adoptive transfer; cancer vaccine; dendritic cell; hepatocellular carcinoma; immunotherapy