Progress in immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma / 生物工程学报

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the malignant tumors with the highest morbidity and mortality in the world. The morbidity and mortality of HCC are increasing every year. Liver cancer is a serious threat to public health in China and the death rate of patients with liver cancer in China is the highest in the world. Beyond surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, immunotherapy is an emerging treatment for cancer, which could control and kill tumor cells by relieving the inhibitory status of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment and activating the immune function of the body. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, adoptive immunotherapy and tumor vaccine are the major treatments of immunotherapy. Compared with traditional therapy methods, immunotherapy could enhance immune function, delay tumor progression, prolong the survival time of patients, and becomes a hotspot in the basic and clinical cancer research. This article reviews the research progress of immunotherapy for liver cancer.

Clinical efficacy of pegylated interferon α-2a and ribavirin combined with self-extracting traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C / 重庆医学

Objective To study the clinical efficacy of pegylated interferon α-2a(PEG-IFN α-2a) and ribavirin combined with self-extracting traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C(CHC) of gan-shen yin-deficiency and damp-heat syndrome.Methods A total of 59 cases of CHC of gan-shen yin-deficiency and damp-heat syndrome confirmed in our hospital was randomly divided into control group(n=29) and combined group(n=30).The patients in both groups were treated with PEG-IFN α-2a injection and ribavirin,and then the self-extracting TCM was added on the patients in combined group.The differences of quantitative score,improvement of liver function,RNA negative rate of HCV,the levels of IL-21,IL-6 and TNF-α,clinical treatment of total efficiency and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups before and after treatment.Results After treatment,the quantitative scores of TCM symptoms(rib-side pain,soreness and weakness of waist and knees,abdominal distension,red tongue with yellowish fur,dizziness with heavy body,insomnia and dreaminess) in combined group were significantly lower than those in control group(P＜0.05),but the difference of quantitative scores of other TCM symptoms between the two groups was not statistically significant(P＞0.05);The levels of alanine aminotransferase(ALT),aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and total bilirubin(TBIL) in combined group were better than those in control group(P＜0.05) after 48 weeks of treatment,but the difference of the levels of albumin(ALB) and glutamyl transpeptidase(GGT) were norstatistically significant in both groups(P＞0.05);The RNA negative rate of HCV in combined group was significantly higher than that in control group after 36-week or 48-week treatment(P＜0.05),but there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups after 12-week or 24-week treatment and 24-week follow-up;The levels of TNF-α,IL-17,IL-23 in combined group were significantly lower than those in control group(P＜0.05) after 48 weeks of treatment;The total efficiency of combined group is better than that of control group (93.33％ vs.72.41％,P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in adverse reactions between the two groups(P＞0.05).Conclusion The application of PEG-IFN α-2a and ribavirin combined with the self-extracting TCM in the treatment of CHC can obviously ameliorate the clinical symptoms and liver function indexes,improve the RNA negative rate of HCV,reduce the levels of inflammatory factors,and improve the clinical efficacy.

Natural clearance of hepatitis C virus in 96 patients with infection acquired by blood transfusion from a single donor in Guizhou / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical features and rate of natural viral clearance in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection acquired by blood transfusion from a single donor.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ninety-six patients who acquired HCV infection between January 1998 and December 2002, upon receipt of donated blood from a single infected individual in Guizhou,were included in this retrospective cross-sectional study. Patients were clinically assessed to determine levels of anti-HCV antibodies, HCV RNA and biochemical indicators of liver function,as well as features of liver structure (by abdominal B ultrasonography and elastography). HCV genetic testing was used to determine the virus genotype. Measurement data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Count data were analyzed by the x² test,with P less than 0.05 indicating statistical significance.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>All 96 patients tested positive for antiHCV antibodies. The majority of patients (70%; 34:33 male:female) had HCV RNA more than or equal to 1.0 * 103 copies/ml. All patients carried the same HCV genotype as the single blood donor:genotype lb. The overall rate of natural HCV clearance was 30.2%. but males had a significantly lower rate (19.0% (8/42) vs. females:38.9% (21/54);x²=4.41,P=0.023) as did older patients (more than 40 years-old:16.1% (5/31) vs .less than or equal to 40 years-old:36.9% (24/65);x²=4.30,P=0.028). The overall rate of chronic HCV infection (CHC) was 69.8%,but the rate was significantly lower in younger patients (less than or equal to 40 years-old:63.1% (41/65) vs. more than 40 years-old:83.9% (26/31);x²=6.67,P=0.028). Among the 67 patients with CHC,12 had symptoms of mild weakness,anorexia and abdominal distention,11 had elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (116.25 +/- 24.65 U/L) and stage 3 or 4 fibrosis (liver elasticity values more than or equal to 5.1 kPa),and three had mildly abnormal serum bilirubin (32.56 ± 5.28 mumol/L). Fifteen patients showed signs of chronic hepatitis and one patient showed signs of cirrhosis by abdominal B ultrasonography. None of the patients showed signs of hepatocellular carcinoma.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The course of blood transfusion acquired HCV infection is largely unknown and natural viral clearance rate may be associated with sex-and age-related factors.</p>

Investigation of antiviral efficacy in patients with chronic hepatitis C originating from a same blood donor in Guizhou Province / 中华传染病杂志

Objective To investigate the antiviral efficacy of standard treatment with interferon (IFN)-α 2b and ribavirin (RBV) in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) originating from a same blood donor.Methods The test group consisted of 65 CHC patients originating from a same blood donor,and was treated with IFN-α 2b 3-5 MU every other day in combination with RBV 0.6-1.0 g/d.Meantime,the control group consisted of 32 CHC patients who visited the Department of Infectious Diseases in Qiannan People's Hospital,and was treated with Peg-interferon (PEG-IFN)-α 2a 180 μg every week in combination with RBV 0.6-1.0 g/d.All the patients in the two groups were treated for 48 weeks and followed up for 96 weeks.Assessment indictors included sustained virological response (SVR),early virological response (EVR),end of treatment virological response (ETVR),biochemical response after withdrawal of treatment.Side effects during treatment were also evaluated.Measurement data were analyzed by x2 test.Results In test group,SVR rate was 83.1％ (54/65),EVR rate was 93.8％ (61/65),ETVR rate was 86.2％ (56/65) and biochemical response rate after withdrawal of treatment was 100.0％.In control group,SVR rate was 87.5％ (28/32),EVR rate was 96.9 ％ (31/32),ETVR rate was 90.6 ％ (29/32) and biochemical response rate after withdrawal of treatment was 100.0 ％.SVR rates of the two groups were not significantly different (x2 =0.072,P=0.086).Patients of the two groups were divided into two subgroups according to viral load:hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA＜1.0 × 106 copy/mL and HCV RNA≥1.0 × 106 copy/mL.SVR rates of patients with low and high viral load in test group were 88.9％ and 54.5％,respectively (x2=7.67,P=0.008),those in control group were 96.0％ and 57.1％,respectively (x2 =4.41,P=0.038).SVR rates were higher in the subgroup of patients with low viral load.Leukopenia and thrombocytopenia were more common in control group than in test group (x2 =9.805,P =0.003 ; x2 =6.643,P=0.009).Conclusion IFN-α 2b and RBV combination therapy has similar antiviral efficacy to that of PEG-IFN-α 2a and RBV combination therapy,and has a lower rate of side effects as well.