Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine have discovered a treatment combination that significantly reduces tumor growth and extends the life span of mice with liver cancer. This discovery provides a potentially new therapeutic approach to treating one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide.
A cancer translational research team consisting of physicians, and basic scientists created an integrative therapy that combined minimally invasive radiofrequency ablation (RFA) with the chemotherapy drug sunitinib. Individually, each treatment has a modest effect in the treatment of liver cancer. The team hypothesized that pairing the two treatments would have a profound effect by activating an immune response to target and destroy liver cancer cells. That’s exactly what their research revealed.
“We treated tumor-bearing mice with sunitinib to suppress the cancer cells’ ability to evade detection by the immune system, then the RFA acted as a spark that ignited the anti-tumor immune response,” said principal investigator Guangfu Li, PhD, DVM, Department of Surgery and Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology.
Read more at: University of Missouri
Guangfu Li, PhD, DVM, Department of Surgery and Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. (Photo Credit: Justin Kelley)
