Evaluation of percutaneous intratumoral injection of p53 gene in the treatment of inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma as compared to alcohol injection

ABSTRACT

P53 is a tumour suppressor gene on chromosome 17 P. Alterations [deletion or mutation] within the coding sequences of the gene are among the most frequent genetic changes detected in human neoplasm. The use of gene therapy in some tumours is a new trend nowadays which carries many hopes for the future treatment of these tumors. This modality of treatment utilizes transfer vectors [plasmid, virus,] for delivering certain genes into malignant cells to induce tumour suppression. Injection of P53 intratumoral [I.T] in Hepatocellular Carcinoma [H.C.C.] is an example of this therapy. The aim of this study is to compare the effect of intratumoral injection of P 53 to that achieved with alcohol injection in cases of H.C.C. In a prospective study, eleven consecutive patients, diagnosed as H.C.C., were subjected to I.T injection of alcohol [Group I] and another eleven patients were subjected to I.T P 53 injection [Group II]. The results show that alcohol injection has superior results in treating H.C.C. over P 53 injection