BACKGROUND: Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is known to induce vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression. A recent study has shown that doxorubicin can repress hypoxic induction of VEGF expression in human cancer cells. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the combination effects of doxorubicin and TACE on the change of serum VEGF after TACE. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Thirty patients with unresectable HCC were assigned into two groups, the experiment group (n = 15) received TACE with doxorubicin (25-50 mg) plus mitomycin C (5-10 mg), and the control group (n = 15) received TACE with mitomycin C (5-10 mg). Serum VEGF before and after TACE (24 hour) was measured by quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Baseline serum VEGF was correlated with the size of tumor (r2 = 0.85; p = 0.03). In addition, serum VEGF was significantly elevated after TACE (p = 0.014). However; the change of serum VEGF after TACE is not statistically different in both groups (p = 0.72). At 2-years, the overall survival was 38% and 40% in the experiment and control group, respectively (p = 0.48). CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that doxorubicin improves neither the level of serum VEGF nor the survival in HCC patients treated with TACE.
BACKGROUND: Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is known to induce vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression. A recent study has shown that doxorubicin can repress hypoxic induction of VEGF expression in humancancer cells. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the combination effects of doxorubicin and TACE on the change of serum VEGF after TACE. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Thirty patients with unresectable HCC were assigned into two groups, the experiment group (n = 15) received TACE with doxorubicin (25-50 mg) plus mitomycin C (5-10 mg), and the control group (n = 15) received TACE with mitomycin C (5-10 mg). Serum VEGF before and after TACE (24 hour) was measured by quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Baseline serum VEGF was correlated with the size of tumor (r2 = 0.85; p = 0.03). In addition, serum VEGF was significantly elevated after TACE (p = 0.014). However; the change of serum VEGF after TACE is not statistically different in both groups (p = 0.72). At 2-years, the overall survival was 38% and 40% in the experiment and control group, respectively (p = 0.48). CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that doxorubicin improves neither the level of serum VEGF nor the survival in HCC patients treated with TACE.
Authors: Riad Salem; Robert J Lewandowski; Laura Kulik; Edward Wang; Ahsun Riaz; Robert K Ryu; Kent T Sato; Ramona Gupta; Paul Nikolaidis; Frank H Miller; Vahid Yaghmai; Saad M Ibrahim; Seanthan Senthilnathan; Talia Baker; Vanessa L Gates; Bassel Atassi; Steven Newman; Khairuddin Memon; Richard Chen; Robert L Vogelzang; Albert A Nemcek; Scott A Resnick; Howard B Chrisman; James Carr; Reed A Omary; Michael Abecassis; Al B Benson; Mary F Mulcahy Journal: Gastroenterology Date: 2010-10-30 Impact factor: 22.682