Procedure that uses the body's own natural killers to keep liver cancer from coming back

Updated: 4:03 PM Feb 10, 2011

New procedure may help fight liver cancer from returning in transplant patients
With over 22,000 thousand new cases of liver cancer each year, doctors are making strides in fighting liver cancer from returning.

Posted: 5:20 PM Feb 10, 2011
Reporter: Maureen McFadden

With over 22,000 thousand new cases of liver cancer each year, doctors are making strides in fighting liver cancer from returning.

For many patients, a liver transplant can make a life-saving difference.

But in 20 percent of cases, liver cancer cells remain in the body and eventually attack the new liver.

Researchers are now testing a revolutionary new procedure that uses the body's own natural defenses to keep liver cancer from returning.

Encarnacion Miranda has working for 20 years at a Miami car dealership, but this year has been quite different from the rest.

Miranda has been fighting against liver cancer, and even though he knew the odds were against him, he never let it stop him.

"Even my boss here at Largo Honda always says that even though I knew that I was going down and dying, that I never showed a day about it," says Miranda.

“There’s no one good treatment for this type of cancer,” says Andreas Tzakis, professor of surgery at University of Miami and Director of Liver and Gastrointestinal Transplant Program at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Miranda received a new liver at Jackson Memorial, as well as a new experimental treatment.

The treatment utilizes specialized cells in the body known as natural killer cells.

Research is showing after a liver transplant, these natural killers can attack any liver cancer cells remaining in the body.

"What they do is they hone in to the tumor cells like smart bombs, like guided missiles,” says Tzakis, “They're going to hone into the tumor cells and kill them."

Natural killer cells were extracted from the donor liver, cultured in the lab, so they would strengthen and multiply into the millions.

They, they were injected into Miranda's bloodstream.

Thanks to the new treatment, Miranda is back on the lot, cancer free.

Researchers at the University of Hiroshima were the first to perform the killer cell cancer treatment on liver cancer patients who received liver donor transplants, improving three-year survival.

With the help researchers at University of Hiroshima, doctors at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine are doing the same procedure in deceased donor liver transplants.

Research Summary

TOPIC: NATURAL KILLERS OF CANCER: MEDICAL FIRST!
REPORT: MB #3261

BACKGROUND: According to the Mayo Clinic, liver cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in the world. However, liver cancer is uncommon in the United States. Most cancer that occurs in the liver in the United States begins in another area of the body such as the colon, breast, or lung. Doctors call this metastatic cancer, rather than primary liver cancer. This type of cancer is named after the organ in which it began. According to the National Cancer Institute, about 15,000 men and 6,000 women are diagnosed with primary liver cancer in the United States each year. Most of these people are over age 64.

TREATMENTS: There are a variety of treatment options for patients with liver cancer. Some of these include:
* Surgery -- Doctors remove the cancer and part of the healthy tissue that surrounds the tumor.
* Liver transplant surgery -- A patient's diseased liver is removed and replaced with a healthy liver from a donor.
* Freezing cancer cells -- Cryoablation uses extreme cold to destroy cancer cells.
* Heating cancer cells -- In a procedure called radiofrequency ablation, electric current is used to heat and destroy cancer cells.
* Injecting Alcohol -- Pure alcohol is injected directly into tumors either through the skin or during an operation.
* Chemotherapy -- Chemoembolization is a type of chemotherapy that supplies strong anti-cancer drugs directly to the liver.
* Radiation -- High-powered energy beams destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors.
* Targeted Drug Therapy -- Sorafenib (Nexavar) is a targeted drug designed to interfere with a tumor's ability to generate new blood vessels.

TRANSPLANT SOLUTION: While liver transplants may be a good option for some patients, the cancer cells still in the body may eventually attack the new, transplanted liver. This happens in about 20 percent of cases. Now, researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine are testing a revolutionary new procedure that uses the body's own natural killers to keep liver cancer from coming back. The treatment utilizes specialized cells in the body known as natural killer cells. After a liver transplant, these natural killers can attack any liver cancer cells remaining in the body. Natural killer cells are extracted from a donor liver, cultured in the lab so they multiple, and are injected into the patient's bloodstream. These cells act like "smart bombs," honing in and destroying any lingering cancer cells. They also have the added bonus of being 10-times more aggressive against the hepatitis C virus.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Omar Montejo, Media Relations
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Miami, FL
omontejo@med.miami.edu