Jie-du granule preparation for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: a retrospective cohort study of 177 patients

OBJECTIVE

To compare the clinical efficacy of Jie-du granule preparation versus best supportive treatment in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study was carried out in patients with advanced liver cancer. Patients were divided into Jie-du granule treatment (JD) and best supportive treatment (BST) groups. The main outcomes included median overall survival time.

RESULTS

A total of 177 patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage C receiving JD granule treatment or BST were enrolled between January 2012 and December 2014. The overall median survival time was 6.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.546-7.854) in the JD group versus 4 months (95% CI 3.471-4.529) in the BST group. Significant independent risk factors were alpha-fetoprotein (P = 0.048), Child-Pugh class (P = 0.005), vascular invasion (P = 0.003), and extrahepatic metastasis (P = 0.0018). For patients with two or fewer of these independent risk factors, the overall median survival of those treated with JD was significantly longer than that of patients receiving BST (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Jie-du granule preparation may prolong survival of patients with advanced HCC.

Downregulated NM23-H1 expression is associated with intracranial invasion of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Because the focus of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is very close to intracranial organs, it often makes incursions into cranial cavity. Identification of intracranial invasion-associated indicators will provide potential therapeutic targets for NPC patients with intracranial invasion. In this regard, Human Xpro™ HC-plus cancer-related gene chip was utilised to screen intracranial invasion-associated genes for NPC from the biopsied primary focus tissue samples. In all, 8 upregulated and 23 downregulated genes were obtained. VEGF165 and MMP-9, the two upregulated genes, and NM23-H1, the downregulated one, were further confirmed by immunohistochemistry, quantitative real-time PCR and western blot. Invasion-associated cellular and nude mouse models were subsequently employed to study the biological properties of NM23-H1. NM23-H1 expression was significantly lower in 5-8F cells compared with that in 6-10B cells. Moreover, patch-clamp and transwell chamber were adopted to investigate the invading potential-associated biological dynamic mechanisms in the two cell lines, and Ca²⁺ current and motility were significantly elevated in 5-8F cells compared with that in 6-10B cells. Berberine, an inhibitor of Ca²⁺ current, could substantially increase the expression of NM23-H1 and decrease 5-8F cell motility. The specificity of berberine on NM23-H1 and cell motility was confirmed by RNAi assay.