Interferon-alpha Therapy After Curative Treatment For Hepatitis B/C Virus-related Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Meta-analysis

Objective To systematically review the efficacy and safety of interferon-alpha (IFN)therapy for hepatitis B/C virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) after curativeresection or complete ablation.Methods The databases including MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, ScienceCitation Index Expanded, Chinese Biomedicine Database, Chinese National KnowledgeInfrastructure, Wanfang Data, VIP Journal Integration Platformwere searched for therandomized controlled trials evaluating the effects of IFN in patients after curativetreatment of HCC. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, Two investigatorsextracted the data and evaluated the quality of the included studies, independently. Thetype and number of adverse events were reported descriptively. Then meta-analysis wasperformed using RevMan5.1.Results A total of seven studies involving868patients were eligible. The results ofmeta-analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the recurrence ratebetween the IFN group and the control group[RR=0.93,95%CI(0.84,1.03), P=0.14].IFN therapy significantly reduced the overall mortality rate after curative treatment ofHCC [RR=0.74,95%CI(0.60,0.90), P=0.002]. IFN had to be discontinued in3.8-25.0percent of patients.Conclusion Currently, the limited evidence indicates IFN therapy has a significantbeneficial effect after curative treatment in survival, but not in tumor recurrence.