BACKGROUND: Non-operative therapy takes an important position in comprehensive therapy of liver cancer. Despite some effects by using ethanol, acetic acid and heat saline for  intra-tumor injection in the treatment of liver cancer, it is difficult to attain a complete cure but bring about injury to the liver to some extent. Hence, searching for other drugs for the local treatment of liver tumor is an important option. This study was designed to set up rat models of transplanted liver cancer, intra-tumor injection of Kang-Lai-Te (KLT), and negative control  (saline) and positive control (ethanol). The effect of intra-tumor injection of KLT in treating transplanted hepatoma in rats and its advantages and disadvantages were assessed and the possibility of its use in treating patients with liver cancer was evaluated.
METHODS: Forty rats were divided into 4 groups (G1, G2, G3 and G4, 10 rats in each group). Different drugs were injected into their implanted hepatoma (G1 with 0.2 ml saline as control, G2 with 10 mg KLT, G3 with 20 mg KLT, G4 with 0.2 ml ethanol). After 3  and 8 days, the hepatoma volume (HV), the serum levels of albumin, alanine aminotransferase(ALT), aspartate aminotransferase alkaline phosphatase(ALP) and creatinine, as well as the expression of proliferation cell nuclear antigen(PCNA) in hepatoma were detected.
RESULTS: After 3 days, the HVs were smaller in G3 and G4 than in G1 (P<0.05), the serum levels of albumin were higher in G2 and G3 than in G1 and G4 (P<0.05), the serum levels of ALT and AST were lower in G2 and G3 than in G4 (P<0.05), the serum levels of ALP was lower in G2 and G3 than in G1 and G4 (P<0.05),the PCNA labeling indexes (PCNA LI) were lower in G2 and G3 than in G1 and G4 (P<0.05). After 8 days, the HVs were smaller in G2, G3 and G4 than in G1 (P<0.05), and the differences of HVs among G2, G3 and G4 were not significant. The serum levels of ALP were lower in G1, G2 and G3 than in G4 (P<0.05), and the PCNA LI were lower in G3 than in G1 and G4 (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION: Intra-tumor injection of KLT into implanted hepatoma is evidently effective, but it is less effective than ethanol. The effect of KLT on liver function is markedly lower than that of ethanol.