• Hidenari Nagai, Daisuke Miyaki, Teppei Matsui, Masahiro Kanayama, Katsuya Higami, Kouichi Momiyama, Takashi Ikehara, Manabu Watanabe, Yasukiyo Sumino, and Kazumasa Miki.
• Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Toho University Medical Center, Omori Hospital, 6-11-1, Omorinishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo, 143-8541, Japan. hidenari@aol.com
• Cancer Chemother. Pharmacol. 2008 Nov 1; 62 (6): 959-63.

PurposeIt has been reported that Th2 cytokines down-regulate antitumor immunity, while activation of type 1 T cells promotes antitumor immunity. However, the immunological features of liver cirrhosis (LC) patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (aHCC) treated by intra-arterial chemotherapy are still unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of intra-arterial combination chemotherapy on the Th1/Th2 balance in LC patients with aHCC.MethodsTwenty-one adult Japanese LC patients with aHCC were treated by intra-arterial combination chemotherapy. The control group was composed of 20 adult Japanese patients with chronic hepatitis C diagnosed from examination of liver biopsy specimens. All control patients were over 55 years old and were stage 1 according to the fibrosis score of Desment.ResultsThirteen of the 21 aHCC patients (group R) showed an objective response, but the other 8 patients (group N) showed no response. There were no significant differences of Th1 cells between group R and group N either before or after chemotherapy. Although there was no significant difference from group R, group N had a significantly higher percentage of Th2 cells than the control group both before and after chemotherapy (p < 0.05 by Tukey's test).ConclusionsThese results indicate that the Th1/Th2 balance might be a useful indicator of the effect of intra-arterial combination chemotherapy in LC patients with aHCC. Inhibition of an increase of Th2 cells might be important for the efficacy of intra-arterial chemotherapy in such patients.

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