Assessment of liver transplant benefit and a novel strategy for liver donor allocation in acute-on-chronic liver failure / 中华肝脏病杂志

Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a type of complex clinical syndrome that is mainly characterized by acute deterioration of liver function based on chronic liver disease, hepatic and extrahepatic organ failures, and a high short-term mortality rate. The comprehensive medical treatment efficacy of ACLF is currently limited; thus, liver transplantation is the only viable potential treatment method. However, considering the severe liver donor shortage, economic and social costs, as well as the differences in disease severity and prognosis of different disease courses, it is particularly important to accurately assess the benefits of liver transplantation in patients with ACLF. Early identification and prediction, timing, prognosis, and survival benefits are discussed here by combining the latest research findings so as to optimize the liver transplantation treatment strategy for ACLF.

Exploration and practice of post-marketing survival benefit evaluation of Chinese patent medicine for cancer / 中国中药杂志

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) is an important feature of cancer treatment in China. The methods to tap the advantages of TCM, reasonably evaluate and accurately apply Chinese patent medicines have become current research hotspots and difficulties. TCM takes syndrome differentiation and treatment as the core, with the characteristics of overall regulation and multi-targets efficacy. Therefore, the post-marketing survival benefit evaluation of Chinese patent medicines for cancer is different from that in modern medicine. The primary treatment goals in cancer patients include to improve the disease control rate and prolong their survival time. At present, Chinese patent medicines for cancer patients are lacking indepth studies on survival benefit at the post-marketing stage. In addition, the characteristics of individualized treatment with TCM have also increased the complexity of clinical research on TCM. Therefore, it is of certain practical significance and necessity to evaluate the survival benefit of Chinese patent medicines for cancer after marketing. Based on this, in this paper, we first summarized the technical methodological means of survival benefit evaluation at this stage, and then explored the post-marketing survival benefit evaluation of Chinese patent medicines for cancer from three aspects: the evaluation of cancer treatment effect based on survival time and quality of life, treatment-related toxicity and the auxiliary effect of TCM, and the improvement effect for tumor-related symptoms. Based on the practices of early clinical researches, and according to the insufficient efficacy evaluation of current clinical research on Chinese patent medicines, this paper proposed to improve the evaluation system for clinical researches on Chinese patent medicines, establish the evaluation method with TCM characteristics, clarify the dominant population, lay a theoretical foundation for the evaluation of post-marketing survival benefits of Chinese patent medicines for cancer in the future, and promote the modernization process of TCM.

Effect of Sorafenib in Increased VEGF in Stimulating Effect of Walker-256 Transplanted Liver Cancer Model in SD Rats / 中山大学学报(医学科学版)

[Objective] To investigate association between the time point of sorafenib administered and suppress effect on tumor growth secondary to the increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).[Methods] Fifty SD rats were performed intrahepatic implantation using tumor tissues from subcutaneous tumors in nude mice which were administered Walker 256 tumor cells.Ten days after the procedure,MR scans were used to choose forty SD rats with successful hepatic tumor transplantation among fifty experimental animals.Then they were randomly divided into four groups:(A,control group) mere injection of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF);(B) administration of sorafenib 72 hours prior to VEGF injection;(C) administration of sorafenib together with VEGF injection;(D) administration of sorafenib 72 hours later to VEGF injection.The tumor growth and median survival time of rodents were observed and compared.After each experimental animal died,immunohistochemical (IHC) methods were applied to detect the expression of VEGF in tumors.[Results] Ten days after the administration of sorafenib,MR showed significant growth of hepatic tumors,the tumor size in experiment group were significiant smaller,than control group (5.4 cm) with statistical significance.Median survival time of four groups were (19.6 ± 1.8) d,(31.2 ± 7.0) d,(27.4 ± 4.9) d,and (26.5 ± 4.6) d,respectively,which indicated that animals in sorafenib groups lived longer than those in control group (P ＜ 0.05).Differences can be obseverd in sorafenib groups with statistical significance existing (P ＜ 0.05).Harvest hepatic tumor tissues from dead animals and HE staining as well as IHC examination were performed.The expression of VEGF in four groups were 88.3 ± 13.6,42.8 ± 8.0,71.9 ± 15.7,and 73.6 ± 13.7.There were statistical significance between control group and sorafenib groups.And further in sorafenib groups,the expressions of VEGF also varied greatly.[Conclusion] Sorafenib can extend the survival time,reduce tumor angiogenesis.And we can conclude that administration of sorafenib before the transient increased expression of VEGF offers survival benefits than that after the evaluation of VEGF levels.