Clinical analysis of non-specific immunotherapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after radiofrequency ablation

Abstract

Objective To study the curative efficacy of non-specific immunotherapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after radiofrequency ablation. Methods The clinical data of 120 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in our hospital from December 2012 to December 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the different methods of treatment after the operation, they were divided into the observation group (n=60) and the control group (n=60). All the patients underwent elective operation of radiofrequency ablation, and the control group was treated with routine treatment after operation, while the observation group was treated with non-specific immunotherapy (recombinant human interleukin-2 injection+ thymalfasin+ disodium cantharidinate and vitamin B6 injection). After 3 weeks of treatment, the changes of cellular immune function, humoral immune function and quality of life were compared between the two groups before and after treatment, and the clinical efficacy and 1-, 2- and 3-year survival rates were compared. Results After treatment, in the cellular immune function, the CD3+ [(62.31±9.65)% vs. (57.08±8.03)%], CD8+ [(26.85±3.22)% vs. (33.41±3.86)%], CD4+ /CD8+ (1.95±0.34 vs. 1.53±0.27) and natural killer cells [(25.76±4.53)% vs. (21.14±4.20)%] of the observation group were better than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (t=3.227, P<0.001; t=10.109, P<0.001; t=7.493, P<0.001; t=5.793, P<0.001). In the humoral immune function, the IgG [(19.45±2.45) g/L vs. (15.93±2.07) g/L], IgM [(2.15±0.42) g/L vs. (1.83±0.31) g/L], IgA [(3.08±0.79) g/L vs. (2.73±0.56) g/L] of the observation group were better than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (t=8.501, P<0.001; t=4.748, P<0.001; t=2.800, P<0.001). In the quality of life scale, the social function score (59.73±4.62 vs. 53.91±3.84), physical function score (55.83±5.62 vs. 47.85±5.17), role function score (51.64±5.83 vs. 46.82±5.46), cognitive function score (64.82±5.19 vs. 58.04±4.92) and emotional function score (68.94±5.62 vs. 60.38±5.10) of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (t=7.504, P<0.001; t=8.095, P<0.001; t=4.674, P<0.001; t=7.344, P<0.001; t=8.737, P<0.001). The clinical efficacy of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group (81.67% vs. 65.00%), and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=4.261, P=0.039). The 1-year survival rate (91.67% vs. 78.33%), 2-year survival rate (85.00% vs. 68.33%) and 3-year survival rate (75.00% vs. 53.33%) of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=4.781, P=0.029). Conclusion Non-specific immunotherapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after radiofrequency ablation can effectively improve immune function, and it is helpful to improve clinical efficacy and quality of life. Key words: Carcinoma, hepatocellular; Catheter ablation; Non-specific immunotherapy; Immune function