Korean J Intern Med.  1996 Jan;11(1):58-68.

Combined cis-platinum and alpha interferon therapy of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

• Ji SK
• Park NH
• Choi HM
• Kim YW
• Lee SH
• Lee KH
• Ahn SY
• Lee SU
• Han BH
• Park BC

Abstract

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of alpha-interferon(IFN-alpha) plus cis-platinum in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). 56 inoperable patients with HCC were divided into IFN-alpha plus cis-platinum treated group (n = 30) and no antitumor therapy group (n = 26). The survival of IFN-alpha plus cis-platinum treated patients was significantly better than that of patients who received no antitumor therapy (p = 0.001). Median survival time was 33 weeks and 14.0 weeks, respectively. The cumulative estimated survival rates of our IFN-alpha plus cis-platinum treated group (93.5% at 3mo, 75.0% at 6mo) were for longer than that of the no antitumor therapy group (84.6% at 3mo, 57.7% at 6mo). Objective tumor regression, greater than 50% was observed in 13.3% (4 of 30) of patients receiving IFN-alpha plus cis-platinum. By the univariate analysis, the absence of portal vein thrombus (p < 0.05), alkaline phosphatase lesser than 280 U/L (p = 0.001), total bilirubin less than 2.0 mg% (p < 0.05), serum triglyceride less than 155 mg/dl (p < 0.05) were shown to be the factors most significantly favoring a better survival. By the multivariate analysis, using Cox proportional hazards model, IFN-alpha plus cis-platinum treated group (p = 0.0001), alkaline phosphatase less than 280 mg/dl (p = 0.005), the absence of portal vein thrombus (p = 0.020) were independent favorable prognostic factors. We conclude that IFN-alpha plus cis-platinum is useful in patients with inoperable HCC and the above favorable prognostic factors may also be useful in the design and analysis of future clinical trials of systemic chemotherapy for HCC.

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Antineoplastic Agents/administration & dosage
Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/administration & dosage
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use*
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/diagnosis
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/drug therapy*
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/physiopathology
Cisplatin/administration & dosage
Cisplatin/therapeutic use
Female
Human
Interferon-alpha/administration & dosage
Interferon-alpha/therapeutic use
Liver Neoplasms/diagnosis
Liver Neoplasms/drug therapy*
Liver Neoplasms/physiopathology
Male
Middle Age