Ambovex oral sublingual spray as immuno-therapy trial for HCC among Egyptian patients

Hosny Salama; Hassan Ahmed; Ismail; Elchagea; Abdel Rahman Zekri; Eman
Medhat; Midhead Lange; Mohamed Rabbat; Pravin Pumamiya

doi:10.21767/2575-7733-C2-006

Ambovex oral sublingual spray as immuno-therapy trial for HCC among Egyptian patients

14^th International Conference on Gastro Education

September 06-07, 2018 London, UK

Hosny Salama, Hassan Ahmed, Ismail, Elchagea, Abdel Rahman Zekri, Eman Medhat, Midhead Lange, Mohamed Rabbat and Pravin Pumamiya

National Cancer Institute - Cairo University, Egypt

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol

Abstract:

Introduction: Novel immunotherapy strategies that may be employed to render a cancer more immunogenic, generate antigenspeciï¬c or nonspeciï¬c immune activation, and/or manipulate the tumor micro-environment. A number of immunotherapeutic trials have been performed to evaluate the efï¬cacy of immunotherapy for the treatment of HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma). Ambovex is a botanical medicine derived from the plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae and having immune-modulating effect. In this pilot study we used Ambovex as an immunotherapy trial for treating Egyptian patients with unresectable HCC. Patients & Methodology: We included 148 patients with post- HCV liver cirrhosis and HCC. Their HCC was diagnosed by Ultrasound/CT and AFP >400 ngm and was unï¬t for any of the available treatment modalities. They were divided into 2 groups: group 1 (88 patients) for treatment and group 2 (60 patients) as a control group. After getting their informal consent, we gave for group 1 Ambovex sublingual oral spray (20 buffs sublingual tid) for 4 months. For group 2, sub- lingual glucose-saline sublingual spray as a placebo. Both groups were followed up for one year. Results: There were no side effects apart from taste changes in 25% of patients in group I. In group I there was tumor regression and signiï¬cant decrease in AFP in 36 patients (40.9%), and 25 patients (28.4%) showed stable tumor size and AFP level and 27 patients (30.7%) showed disease progression. In group II, no patients showed tumor stabilization. At one year follow-up 61 patients (69.3%) were still living in group I compared to only 21 patients (35%) in group II. Conclusions: From this pilot study, we could conclude that Ambovex with its immune- modulating effect have initial promising results in treating Egyptian patients with HCC. Further controlled, randomized, multicenter studies are needed to conï¬rm these results.