Brief Reports
Copyright ©2005 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 7, 2005; 11(5): 700-704
Published online Feb 7, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i5.700
Tumor vaccine against recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma
Bao-Gang Peng, Li-Jiang Liang, Qiang He, Ming Kuang, Jia-Ming Lia, Ming-De Lu, Jie-Fu Huang
Bao-Gang Peng, Li-Jiang Liang, Qiang He, Ming Kuang, Jia-Ming Lia, Ming-De Lu, Jie-Fu Huang, Hepatobiliary Surgery Department, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, No. 021889
Correspondence to: Bao-Gang Peng, Hepatobiliary Surgery Department, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China. pengbaogang@163.net
Telephone: +86-20-87755766-8096 Fax: +86-20-87755766-8663
Received: February 2, 2004
Revised: February 5, 2004
Accepted: February 21, 2004
Published online: February 7, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the effects of autologous tumor vaccine on recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODS: Sixty patients with HCC who had undergone curative resection, were randomly divided into HCC vaccine group and control group. Three vaccinations at 2-wk intervals were performed after curative hepatic resection. Delayed-type- hypersensitivity (DTH) test was performed before and after vaccination. Primary endpoints were the time of recurrence.

RESULTS: Four patients in control group and 6 patients in HCC vaccine group were withdrawn from the study. The vaccine containing human autologous HCC fragments showed no essential adverse effect in a phase II clinical trial and 17 of 24 patients developed a DTH response against the fragments. Three of 17 DTH-positive response patients and 5 of 7 DTH- negative response patients had recurrences after curative resection. After the operation, 1-, 2- and 3-year recurrence rates of HCC vaccine group were 16.7%, 29.2% and 33.3%, respectively. But, 1-, 2- and 3-year recurrence rates of the control group were 30.8%, 53.8% and 61.5%, respectively. The time before the first recurrence in the vaccinated patients was significantly longer than that in the control patients (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: Autologous tumor vaccine is of promise in decreasing recurrence of human HCC.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma; HCC vaccine; Recurrence