Lyso-Thermosensitive Liposomal Doxorubicin: An Adjuvant to Increase The Cure Rate of Radiofrequency Ablation in Liver Cancer

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. No more than 30% of HCC patients are considered suitable for curative treatment because of tumor size and severity of liver impairment, among other factors. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) monotherapy can cure small (<3 cm) HCC tumors. An adjuvant that interacts synergistically with RFA might enable curative therapy for many HCC patients with lesions >3 cm. Lyso-thermosensitive liposomal doxorubicin (LTLD) consists of the heat-enhanced cytotoxic doxorubicin within a heat-activated liposome. LTLD is infused intravenously prior to RFA. When heated to >39.5°C, LTLD releases doxorubicin in high concentrations into the tumor and the tumor margins. The RFA plus LTLD combination has shown a statistically significant dose–response effect for time to treatment failure in a Phase I trial in which most subjects (62.5%) had tumors >3 cm. RFA plus LTLD is currently being evaluated in a 600-patient randomized, double-blind, dummy-controlled trial.

Keywords:

• hepatocellular carcinoma
• lyso-thermosensitive liposomal doxorubicin
• radiofrequency ablation

Financial & competing interests disclosure

N Borys is the Chief Medical Officer for Celsion Corp. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript. The authors would like to aknowledge William L Simonich, a staff medical writer at Celsion Corp., who helped with the writing of this manuscript.

Notes

RFA: Radiofrequency ablation; TACE: Transarterial chemoembolization.

Additional information

Funding

N Borys is the Chief Medical Officer for Celsion Corp. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.