Treatment of Sorafenib on rat with recrudescent liver cancer after liver transplantation

Objective: To investigate the treatment of tumor recurrence with Sorafenib after orthotopic liver transplantation for primary carcinoma of liver in rats.Methods: Portal vein injection of Walker-256 cancer cells to establish models of metastasis and recurrence of liver after liver transplantation in rat.The rats were randomLy divided into 4 groups(n=16):Control group(group A),Sorafenib low-dose group(group B),Sorafenib middle-dose group(group C),Sorafenib high-dose group(group D),moreover,a normal group(group E,n= 5).Eight rats of each group were chosen 20 days after operation to have observation of pathological changes in liver,which were made with hematoxylin-eosin sectioning(HE);8 rats of each group were chosen 20 days after operation to test the alanine amino transferase(ALT),aspartate aminotransferase(AST) and bilirubin(TB) of vein blood;The serum level of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) were tested by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA);microvessel density(MVD) level of liver tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry;survival time of remaining 8 rats from control group and experimental groups of Sorafenib were observed.Results: There were no differences in tumor metastasis and recurrence among control group and Sorafenib experimental groups,for it could be found metastasis and recurrence in rat liver of each group,however,Sorafenib experimental groups had signifcantly higher ratio of cancer cell apoptosis,lower ratio of necrosis of liver cells compared with control group;The serum level of ALT、AST、TB in each experimental group of Sorafenib were generally lower than that of control group(P0.05),Serum level of VEGF in each experimental group of Sorafenib were generally lower than that of control group(P0.05),MVD counts of liver in each experimental group were smaller than that of control group(P0.05),survival rate of middle-dose group and high-dose group were higher(P0.05).Conclusions: Sorafenib can reduce concentration of VEGF in serum of rat,which could inhibit angiogenesis of tumor,then tumor growth,as well as invasion to normal liver cells,and liver function damage was slighter,survival time were prolonged.As a result,there was a positive therapeutic effect of application of Sorafenib after orthotopic liver transplantation for primary carcinoma of liver in rats.