Effect Of Huaier Granules Combined With Thymosinα1 On Cellular Immune Function In Patients With Primary Liver Cancer After TACE

Background and Aims:For the world,primary liver cancer representing the sixth leading cause of cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality.Indeed,its incidence is highest in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa,where chronic hepatitis B virus infection is endemic.Until recently,the hepatitis C virus was the leading cause of primary liver cance.According to the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer(BCLC)staging system,transarterial chemoembolization(TACE)is the first-line treatment for patients with intermediate stage liver cancer,including those with large or multinodular liver cancer,well-preserved liver function,and no cancer-related symptoms or evidence of vascular invasion or extrahepatic spread.Studies have confirmed that the progression and prognosis of liver cancer are closely related to the status of systemic immune function.This article mainly investigate the effects of Huaier Granules combined with thymosinα1 on cellular immune function and tumor marker alpha fetoprotein in patients with primary liver cance after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE),and the clinical effects of the combination therapy of the two,in order to provide new ideas of the treatment of liver cancer.Methods:A total of 80 patients with primary liver cancer which were first discovered treated at our hospital from June 2017 to June 2018 were randomly divided into three groups,the control group,the treatment group1 and the treatment group2,with 20 cases in the control group,30 cases in treatment group 1 and treatment group 2.The other20 health examiner in the same period were selected as the healthy group.Three groups of patients with liver cancer were treated with TACE(with the same interventional surgery method).The treatment group1 was treated with thymosinα1.The treatment group2 was treated with Huaier Granules on the basis of treatment group1,while the control group did not use adjuvant anti-tumor drugs.Other treatment options for the three groups were same.Peripheral venous blood was taken from the three groups of patients 1 week before the operation and 4 weeks after the operation in the morning on an empty stomach,and the lymphocyte subsets and the primary liver cancer tumor marker alpha-fetoprotein were detected.The upper abdominal MRI was scanned 4W after operation for enhance the observation of the patient’s tumor condition.The serum T lymphocyte subsets and the alpha-fetoprotein and clinical effects were compared between the three groups at 4w after TACE,adverse reactions of the patient’s during treatment were recorded.The data of this study were all selected by SPSS 22.0 statistical analysis software.The measurement data were expressed by mean±SD,the analysis of variance was used for comparison of continuous data between multiple groups,independent-samples t test or paired t-test were used for comparison between two groups.The categorical data was expressed by rate,and the chi-squaret test or Fisher were used to compare categorical data between groups.Comparison of the three groups of categorical data using the Bonferroni method to correct the test leveland.P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:1.Before the TACE,compared with the healthy group,the number of CD3~+,CD4~+,CD8~+cells,CD4~+/CD8~+ratio,and NK cell percentage in the primary liver cancer group were significantly lower than those in the healthy group(t values were11.65,10.55,4.43,7.06,6.02;P values were<0.05),AFP level was significantly increased(t value was 5.94,P value<0.05);there was no statistically significant difference between the three groups in the treatment groups and the control group in the number of CD3~+,CD4~+,CD8~+cells,CD4~+/CD8~+ratio,NK cell percentage and AFP level(F values were 0.16,0.20,0.15,0.11,0.00,0.04;P value>0.05).2.Four weeks after the TACE,for the control group,the number of CD3~+,CD4~+cells,CD4~+/CD8~+ratio,NK cell percentage and AFP level decreased compared with before the TACE(t values were 6.89,9.44,4.99,4.26,2.33;P values were<0.05),the the number of CD8~+cells increased compared with before the TACE(t values was9.20;P values was<0.05).3.Four weeks after the TACE,for the treatment group 1,the number of CD3~+,CD4~+cells,CD4~+/CD8~+ratio increased compared with the control group(t values were2.40,2.66,2.25;P values were<0.05),and NK cell percentage increased slightly compared with the control group,in addition,CD8~+cells,AFP level decreased slightly compared the control group(P values were>0.05).4.Four weeks after the TACE,for the treatment group 2,CD3~+,CD4~+cells,CD4~+/CD8~+ratio,and NK cell percentage increased compared with the treatment group 1,(t values were12.07,2.34,11.39,7.55;P values were<0.05),the level of CD8+cells and alpha-fetoprotein decreased compared with the treatment group 1,(t values were14.86,2.72;P values were<0.05).5.Four weeks after the TACE,compared with the control group,the two treatment groups were more effective than the control group(the effective rates were93.4%,73.3%,60%,χ2=8.12,p<0.05).The disease progression rates of the two treatment groups were lower than that of the control group.(The disease progression rates were 3.3%,10%,30%,χ2=8.08,p<0.05),and the clinical effects of treatment group 2 was better than treatment group1.6.Adverse reactions after TACE during the entire treatment period include fever,pain,nausea,and transient liver damage.Compared with the control group,the incidence rate of adverse reactions in the two treatment groups were lower(the incidence rate of adverse reactions were 17%,37%,50%,χ2=6.46,P<0.05),in addition,the incidence rate of adverse reactions in the treatment group2 were lower than the treatment group1.All patients did not appear serious adverse reactions during the entire treatment.conclusion1.Immunological dysfunction was common in patients with primary liver cancer,compared with healthy people,the indicators of T lymphocyte subsets and NK cell percentage were significantly lower,and the tumor marker alpha-fetoprotein was significantly higher.2.Huaier Granules and thymosinα1 can significantly improve the cellular immune dysfunction in patients with primary liver cancer after TACE,and they were very important for the decrease of tumor marker alpha-fetoprotein and the improvement of immune function in patients with primary liver cancer after TACE.The combination therapy effect is better,which has clinical promotion value.