[Experimental study on intratumoral injection with hydroxyapatite bioceramics and adriamycin in implanted hepatoma in...

Hydroxyapatite (HA) bioceramics is a biomaterial used in orthopedic area. We observed its anticancer effect in experimental hepatoma-22 (H22) in mice. BALB/c mice implanted with H22 were grouped into I, II, III and IV. Intratumoral injections were given as follows: (I) HA 0.1 g and ADM 0.1 mg n = 28; (II) HA 0.1 g n = 16; (III) ADM 0.1 mg n = 16; (IV) untreated n = 20. The tumor regression rates of the groups I, II and III were 65.9%, 41.9% and 51.1%, respectively. The mean survivals of groups I, II, III and IV were 32, 22, 26 and 18 days. Six mice of group I were alive more than 50 days before being killed, in which 4 tumor samples showed that no residual tumor cells could be seen under microscope. The possible mechanism of HA anti-cancer action is: (1) the dissolved matter of HA, glycoprotein and microfibril around the tumor cells may disturb the metabolism of cancer; (2) fibrocalcific process restricts the tumor growth; (3) immunoenhancement action (4) as a drug-release system HA is a hopeful agent of intratumoral injection for treatment of cancer.