Chiriva-Internati M, Grizzi F, Jumper CA, Cobos E, Hermonat PL, Frezza EE. Immunological treatment of liver tumors. World J Gastroenterol 2005; 11(42): 6571-6576 [PMID: 16425346 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i42.6571]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Maurizio Chiriva-Internati, PhD, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Room 5B191, Lubbock, TX 79430-6591, United States. maurizio.chirivainternati@ttushc.edu
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Review
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World J Gastroenterol. Nov 14, 2005; 11(42): 6571-6576 Published online Nov 14, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i42.6571
Immunological treatment of liver tumors
Maurizio Chiriva-Internati, Fabio Grizzi, Cynthia A Jumper, Everardo Cobos, Paul L Hermonat, Eldo E Frezza
Maurizio Chiriva-Internati, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Southwest Cancer Treatment and Research Center, Lubbock, TX 79430, United States
Fabio Grizzi, Scientific Direction, Istituto Clinico Humanitas, 20089 Rozzano, and Foundation “M. Rodriguez”– Institute for Quantitative Measures in Medicine, 20100 Milan, Italy
Cynthia A Jumper, Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Southwest Can-cer Treatment and Research Center, Lubbock, TX 79430, United States
Everardo Cobos, Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Southwest Can-cer Treatment and Research Center, Lubbock, TX 79430, United States
Paul L Hermonat, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205, United States
Eldo E Frezza, Department of Surgery, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Southwest Cancer Treatment and Research Center, Lubbock, TX 79430, United States
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Maurizio Chiriva-Internati, PhD, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Room 5B191, Lubbock, TX 79430-6591, United States. maurizio.chirivainternati@ttushc.edu
Telephone: +1-806-743-4057 Fax: +1-806-743-2334
Received: January 22, 2005 Revised: February 15, 2005 Accepted: February 18, 2005 Published online: November 14, 2005
Abstract
Although multiple options for the treatment of liver tumors have often been described in the past, including liver resection, radiofrequency ablation with or without hepatic pump insertion, laparoscopic liver resection and the use of chemotherapy, the potential of immunotherapy and gene manipulation is still largely unexplored. Immunological therapy by gene manipulation is based on the interaction between virus-based gene delivery systems and dendritic cells. Using viruses as vectors, it is possible to transduce dendritic cells with genes encoding tumor-associated antigens, thus inducing strong humoral and cellular immunity against the antigens themselves. Both chemotherapy and radiation therapy have the disadvantage of destroying healthy cells, thus causing severe side-effects. We need more precisely targeted therapies capable of killing cancer cells while sparing healthy cells. Our goal is to establish a new treatment for solid liver tumors based on the concept of cytoreduction, and propose an innovative algorithm.
