CalliSpheres® drug-eluting beads (DEB) transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is equally efficient and safe in liver cancer patients with different times of previous conventional TACE treatments: a result from CTILC study.

PURPOSE: To assess the efficacy and safety of drug-eluting beads transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) in liver cancer patients with different times of previous conventional transarterial chemoembolization (cTACE) treatments. METHODS: 367 liver cancer patients about to receive DEB-TACE treatment were enrolled in this prospective cohort study. All patients were divided into no previous cTACE group (NPC group), 1-2 times previous cTACE group (PC group) and triple or above previous cTACE group (TPC group) according to the times of previous cTACE treatments. RESULTS: There was no difference in complete response (CR) (P = 0.671) and objective response rate (ORR) (P = 0.062) among three groups. Additionally, no difference in overall survival (OS) among groups (P = 0.899) was found. As to liver function, most liver function indexes were deteriorative at 1 week after DEB-TACE operation, but returned to baseline at 1-3 months after DEB-TACE operation in all three groups, while percentage of abnormal total bile acid (TBA) patients was higher in TPC group than NPC and PC groups at 1-3 month post-DEB-TACE (P = 0.018). As for safety profiles, the incidence of pain during DEB-TACE operation was lower in TPC group compared to NPC and PC groups (P = 0.005), while no difference of other adverse events was found during and 1 month post-DEB-TACE treatment among three groups. CONCLUSION: DEB-TACE treatment was equally efficient and tolerated in liver cancer patients with different times of previous cTACE treatments.

An Agrobacterium gene involved in tumorigenesis encodes an outer membrane protein exposed on the bacterial cell surface.

A gene designated as aopB was identified which was involved in tumorigenesis of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. aopB is located on the circular chromosome as a single copy. This gene shares high homology with ropB, a Rhizobium leguminosarum gene encoding an outer membrane protein. A transposon mutant CGI1 containing a gfp-tagged transposon insertion at aopB caused attenuated tumors on plants when inoculated at a low cell concentration (5x10(7) cells/ml). The mutation did not affect the bacterial growth on different media. A broad host range plasmid containing the wild type aopB could restore the tumor formation ability of CGI1 to the wild type level. When both aopB-gfp and aopB-phoA fusions were used to study the aopB gene expression, we found that the aopB gene was inducible by acidic pH but not by plant phenolic compound acetosyringone. aopB encodes a putative protein of 218 amino acids with a predicted molecular weight of 22.8 kDa. TnphoA transposon mutagenesis of aopB, subcellular fractionation and whole cell ELISA experiments indicated that AopB is an outer membrane protein exposed on the bacterial cell surface. It appeared that AopB was exclusively present in the outer membrane and not in other fractions. The vir gene induction assays showed that the aopB gene was not required for the expression of the Ti plasmid encoded vir genes that are essential for tumorigenesis. The C-terminal half of AopB is slightly homologous to some of the bacterial porin proteins and some of plant dehydrins. The role of AopB in Agrobacterium-plant interaction is discussed.