Preventive Effect of Active Hexose Correlated Compound (AHCC) on the Recurrence of Postoperative Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients

H. Kitade, Y. Matsui, S. Takai, A. Imamura, Y. Kawaguchi, Y. Kamiyama, B. Sun, K.Kosuna. Osaka/Sapporo, Japan

XXXIII rd Congress of the European Society For Surgical Research 1998

Poster Presentation

Summary

Many attempts have been made to stimulate the immune system for cancer treatment. Although several biological response modifiers have been developed such as BGG, Picibanil, PSK, interferon and interleukin-2, the clinical efficacy of the substances has not been clearly elucidated. Active Hexose Correlated Compound (AHCC) is a newly developed biological response modifier. It is an extract of Basidiomycetes which is obtained by hybridization of several types of mushrooms. This study was initiated to evaluate the preventive effect of AHCC on the recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma patients after surgical treatment.

In this study, 121 patients with histologically proven hepatocellular carcinoma were included. All of the patients underwent macroscopically curative resection of a liver tumor. In 38 patients, AHCC (3-6 g/day) was administered orally after surgery (group A) and 18 patients began to take AHCC after recurrences were verified (group B). The other 65 patients served as controls (group C). The longest follow up periods were 39, 65, and 56 months for groups A, B, and C respectively.

There were no significant differences between the three groups in the distribution of age, gender, clinical stage, hepatitis type B and/or C viral infection, amount of bleeding during surgery and resections volumes of the liver. The survival rate in group A was significantly higher than that in groups C. The disease-free survival rate in group A was also significantly higher tan that in groups B and C. One year after surgery, the serum levels of tumor markers (a -fetoprotein and PIVKA II) in group A were significantly lower than those in groups B and C.

This retrospective study suggests that AHCC intake has a preventive effect in postoperative hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Further detailed studies are needed to elucidate the mechanism of the effect of AHCC.

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