Nine months to progression using fourth-line liposomally encapsulated paclitaxel against hepatocellular carcinoma

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third most common
cause of cancer deaths. Difficulties to diagnose HCC at early
stages remain the major obstacle to curative (surgical) therapy.
Therapy in advanced stages has to be considered palliative. In this
situation, a considerable amount of attention should be paid to
innovative treatment strategies, e. g. including antiangiogenetic
drugs. Results: We report on the successful treatment of a patient
suffering from progressive HCC with a novel drug (EndoTAG (R)-1,
formerly named LipoPac (R)) currently investigated in phase II
studies. This drug consists of liposomally encapsulated paclitaxel.
Its liposomal formulation favors the drug's adherence to the tumor
neovasculature, in effect starving the tumor. Conclusions: EndoTAG
(R)-1 stopped tumor progression for 9 months in our patient. This,
along with successes observed testing this drug against other
indications, makes it a suitable candidate for future clinical
trials. Copyright (C) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.