Objective To evaluate the therapeutic effect of microwave ablation in combination with TACE for the treatment of primary liver carcinoma (PLC). Methods From Jan. 2004 to Dec. 2008, 63 PLC patients underwent ultrasound-guided microwave ablation (percutaneous or open) under general anesthesia. Repeated microwave ablation or TACE was used when an incompleted ablation or recurrence was found during postoperative regular follow-up. Results These 63 PLC patients have received a total of 82 sessions of microwave ablation procedure (1 to 5 sessions for each patient). There were 2 early postoperative deaths with a procedure-related mortality of 3.2%. At the end of the follow-up, 22 patients were alive and 38 died,and the other one was lost to follow-up. The survival rates in 1,2 and 3 years were 63.3%,42.1% and 26.5%, respectively, with a median survival of 20 months for all patients. The survival for PLC patients with early stage (TNM Ⅰ and Ⅱ) was significantly longer than that of advanced stage (TNM Ⅲ and Ⅳ). The 1,2 and 3 year's cumulative survival rate was 93.3%,86.7% and 65.0% respectively in those 15 cases with only single tumor and the diameter≤3 cm, which were significantly longer than that of other PLC patients. Of 23 patients with recurrence,9 had solitary tumor without lymphnode and distal metastases, for which the survival rates in 1,2 and 3 years were 100%,88.9%, and 35.6%, respectively, whereas in other recurrent patients the survival rates in 1,2 and 3 years were 21.4%, 10.7% and 0%, respectively(P< 0.01). Conclusions Ultrasound-guided microwave ablation in combination with TACE is effective for PLC patients with early stage. In recurrent PLC patients after ablation therapy with solitary tumor and no lymphnode and distal metastases the survival is significantly longer than that of the others.

Objective:To compare the clinical effects of microwave ablation (MWA) and surgical resection in the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma(SHCC).Methods:Sixty five SHCC patients with intact clinical data, treated in the Center of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Peking University People's Hospital between Feb 2005 and Aug 2012, were enrolled in this study. Among them, 30 patients were treated by MWA, and the other 35 by hepatectomy. Follow-up was conducted from Mar 2013 to Feb 2021. The differences in long-term survival, intraoperative blood loss, operative time, postoperative complications, performance status (PS), and postoperative hospital stay were compared between the two groups.Results:The survival probability at 1, 3, 5 and 10 years was 93.2%, 82.5%, 55.6% and 41.2%, respectively, in the MWA group, and 97.1%, 82.6%, 67.2% and 48.3%, in the resection group ( P=0.347). The MWA group had less perioperative complications, less blood loss, shorter operation time, better PS score and better hospital stay than the surgical resection group (all P<0.001).There was no statistically significant difference in the survival rate between BCLC stage 0~A1 and A2~A4 patients( P=0.773, 0.536). Conclusions:Microwave ablation in the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma can achieve similar results as hepatectomy with less traumatic,better postoperative PS score and shorter postoperative hospital stay.

PEP06 is a novel endostatin-Arg-Gly-Asp-Arg-Gly-Asp(RGDRGD)30-amino-acid polypeptide featuring a terminally fused RGDRGD hexapeptide at the N terminus.The active endostatin fragment of PEPO6 directly targets tumor cells and exerts an antitumoral effect.However,little is known about the kinetics and degradation products of PEP06 in vitro or in vivo.In this study,we investigated the in vitro metabolic stability of PEP06 after it was incubated with living cells obtained from animals of different species;we further identified the degradation characteristics of its cleavage products.PEP06 underwent rapid enzymatic degradation in multiple types of living cells,and the liver,kidney,and blood play important roles in the metabolism and clearance of the peptides resulting from the molecular degradation of PEP06.We identified metabolites of PEP06 using full-scan mass spectrometry(MS)and tandem MS(MS2),wherein 43 metabolites were characterized and identified as the degradation metabolites from the parent peptide,formed by successive losses of amino acids.The metabolites were C and N terminal truncated products of PEP06.The structures of 11 metabolites(M6,M7,M16,M17,M21,M25,M33,M34,M39,M40,and M42)were further confirmed by comparing the retention times of similar full MS spectrum and MS2 spectrum information with reference standards for the synthesized metabolites.We have demonstrated the metabolic stability of PEP06 in vitro and identified a series of potentially bioactive downstream metabolites of PEP06,which can support further drug research.