Novel therapy for liver cancer

Patients with liver cancer that cannot be treated with surgical resection or transplantation have few other therapeutic options, and are in need of novel interventions. In 15 July Cancer Research, Jean-Francois Geschwind and colleagues at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, show that direct intraarterial injection of an ATP production inhibitor is an effective inhibitor of liver cancer in rabbits and may be a treatment alternative in humans (Cancer Res 2002, 62:3909-3913).

Geschwind et al. tested intraarterial delivery of 3-bromopyruvate (3-BrPA — a potent inhibitor of cell ATP production), directly to the site of rabbit liver tumors. They observed that this treatment induced a rapid and effective destruction of most cancer cells within the liver. In addition, systemic delivery of 3-BrPA suppressed 'metastatic' tumors that arose in the lungs. Few side effects were associated with either of these treatment regimens.

These results suggest that...