Therapeutic efficacy of brucea javanica oil emulsion (BJOE) combined with transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization (TACE) in patients with primary liver cancer

This study is to investigate the effects of brucea javanica oil emulsion (BJOE) combined with transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization (TACE) on primary liver cancer (PLC) and the related mechanisms. Totally 64 PLC patients were divided into the TACE monotherapy and BJOE/TACE combination therapy groups. The short- and long-term efficacies, and the toxicity and tolerability profiles, of these treatments were evaluated. The serum levels of soluble Fas (sFas) and soluble Fas ligand (sFasL) were detected with ELISA. For the short-term efficacy, the response rate (RR) in the TACE monotherapy and BJOE/TACE combination therapy groups were 50% (16/32) and 78.12% (25/32), respectively. Survival analysis showed that, the combination therapy significantly elevated the 1-, 2-, and 3-year survival rates of PLC patients, compared with the monotherapy. No significant differences were observed in the toxicity and tolerability profiles between these therapies. ELISA showed that, the serum sFas/sFasL levels were significantly increased in PLC patients. At 1 m after the combination therapy, the serum sFas/sFasL levels were significantly higher than before treatment. At 3 m and 6 m after treatment, the serum sFas/sFasL levels were gradually declined. The short- and long-term efficacies of the BJOE/TACE combination therapy for PLC are superior to the TACE monotherapy. The combination therapy could promote liver cancer cell apoptosis by regulating the expression of sFas/sFasL. Serum sFas/sFasL levels might be used as the predictive marker for the disease pathogenesis and prognosis, and the treatment efficacy.