The effect of menatetrenone, a vitamin K2 analog, on disease recurrence and survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after curative treatment

BACKGROUND The high recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) determines the long‐term prognosis for patients with HCC. In the current study, the authors tested the effects of menatetrenone, a vitamin K2 analog, on recurrent HCC and survival after curative treatment. METHODS Sixty‐one patients who were diagnosed as free of HCC after surgical resection or percutaneous local ablation were assigned randomly assigned to either a menatetrenone group (n = 32 patients) or a control group (n = 29 patients). Patients in the menatetrenone group received a daily oral dose of 45 mg of menatetrenone. Disease recurrence and survival rates were analyzed in patients with HCC. RESULTS The cumulative recurrence rates in the menatetrenone group were 12.5% at 12 months, 39.0% at 24 months, and 64.3% at 36 months; and the corresponding recurrence rates in the control group were 55.2%, 83.2%, and 91.6%, respectively (P = 0.0002). Similar results were obtained even for patients who had low baseline levels of serum des‐γ‐carboxy‐prothrombin. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard analyses showed that the administration of menatetrenone was the only factor related to the recurrence rate of HCC. The cumulative survival rates for the patients who received menatetrenone were 100% at 12 months, 96.6% at 24 months, and 87.0% at 36 months; and the corresponding survival rates for patients in the control group were 96.4%, 80.9%, and 64.0%, respectively (P = 0.051). CONCLUSIONS The current study findings suggested that menatetrenone may have a suppressive effect on recurrence of HCC and a beneficial effect on survival, although a larger, placebo‐controlled trial will be required to prove these effects. Cancer 2006. © 2006 American Cancer Society. For this study, the authors tested the effect of menatetrenone, a vitamin K2 analog, on recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and survival after curative treatment. The results demonstrated that menatetrenone may have a suppressive effect on HCC recurrence and a beneficial effect on survival.