The efficiency of sorafenib as an adjuvant therapy on residual tumor after insufficient thermal ablation of rabbit VX2 liver tumor / 中华肝胆外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the viability of residual tumor after insufficient thermal ablation of rabbit VX2 liver tumor and investigated the efficacy of sorafenib as an adjuvant therapy.Methods Twenty-one rabbits were implanted with VX2 tumor to establish orthotopic liver tumor models.They were allocated randomly into 3 groupscontrol (n =7),ablation (n =7),and combination treatment (n =7).Microwave coagulation therapy was conducted with 20 W for 1 min and viable tumor tissue remained at the periphery.A laparotomy was performed in the control group.Sorafenib was given at 20 mg/kg/d during the following 10 days in the combination treatment group,and saline was given to the control and ablation group.Tumor volume was recorded before and after treatment,immunohistochemistry detected CD31 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression,and the micro-vessel density (MVD) and proliferation index (PI) were calculated accordingly.Results Ten days after insufficient ablation,tumor volume of the ablation group was larger than that of the control group (P ＜0.05).The MVD and PI of residual tumor were higher compared with those of the control group (P ＜ 0.05).With adjuvant therapy of sorafenib after insufficient ablation,tumor volume showed a decrease on the 10th day compared with tumors undergoing insurfficient ablation alone (P ＜ 0.05).The MVD and PI of residual tumor were lower than those of the ablation group (P ＜0.05).Conclusion Insufficient thermal ablation promotes residual tumor progression,but adjuvant therapy of sorafenib serves as an effective way to suppress the overgrowth and neovasculation of the residual tumor.