Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the 10 most common cancers worldwide. There is no ideal treatment for HCC yet and many researchers are trying to improve the effects of treatment by changing therapeutic strategies. As the majority of human cancers seem to exhibit either abnormal p53 gene or disrupted p53 gene activation pathways, intervention to restore wild-type p53 (wt-p53) activities is an attractive anti-cancer therapy including HCC. Abnormalities of p53 are also considered a predisposition factor for hepatocarcinogenesis. p53 is frequently mutated in HCC. Most HCCs have defects in the p53-mediated apoptotic pathway although they

The rAd-p53 gene therapy in combination with TACE is a safe and effective treatment modality for advanced HCC.

Abstract:Objective: In the present study, we have examined the safety and efficacy of recombinant adenovirus encoding human p53 tumor suppressor gene (rAd-p53) injection in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the combination with the therapy of bronchial arterial infusion (BAI). Methods: A total of 58 patients with advanced NSCLC were enrolled in a non-randomized, two-armed clinical trial. Of which, 19 received a combination treatment of BAI and rAd-p53 (the combo group), while the remaining 39 were treated with only BAI (the control group). Patients were followed up for 12 months, with safety and local response evaluated by the National Cancer Institute's Common Toxicity Criteria and response evaluation criteria in solid tumor (RECIST), respectively. Time to progression (TTP) and survival rates were also analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method. Results: In the combo group, 19 patients received a total of 49 injections of rAd-p53 and 46 times of BAI, respectively, while 39 patients in the control group received a total of 113 times of BAI. The combination treatment was found to have less adverse events such as anorexia, nausea and emesis, pain, and leucopenia (P<0.05) but more arthralgia, fever, influenza-like symptom, and myalgia (P<0.05), compared with the control group. The overall response rates (complete response (CR)+partial response (PR)) were 47.3% and 38.4% for the combo group and the control group, respectively (P>0.05). Patients in the combo group had a longer TTP than those in the control group (a median 7.75 vs 5.5 months, P=0.018). However, the combination treatment did not lead to better survival, with survival rates at 3, 6, and 12 months in the combo group being 94.74%, 89.47%, and 52.63%, respectively, compared with 92.31%, 69.23%, and 38.83% in the control group (P=0.224). Conclusion: Our results show that the combination of rAd-p53 and BAI was well tolerated in patients with NSCLC and may have improved the quality of life and delayed the disease progression. A further study to better determine the efficacy of this combination therapy is warranted.