Antitumoral immunity induced by gel ethanol ablation to treat unresectable colorectal cancer metastases in the liver

by Jeffrey Yang, Robert Morhard, Hannah Huth, Baktiar Karim, John W. Karanian, Bradford J.

Wood, Andrew S. Mikhail, Jenna L.

Mueller Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. A quarter of CRC patients develop liver metastases.

Treatment options for liver metastases include surgically removing the tumors or undergoing liver transplantation; however, many patients are ineligible for these treatments due to severe extrahepatic disease or lack of suitable donors. Radiofrequency ablation offers an alternative local treatment modality for resolving CRC liver metastases and is known to generate antitumoral effects to stunt contralateral tumor growth.

However, radiofrequency ablation is not suitable for tumors situated near critical structures or large blood vessels. Ethanol ablation is an alternative treatment option where pure ethanol is directly injected into tumors to induce necrosis and is unhindered by the drawbacks from radiofrequency ablation.

The addition of ethyl cellulose with ethanol (EC-ethanol) enhances its retention within tissue and subsequently improves tumor ablative efficacy. However, the antitumoral response following EC-ethanol ablation in CRC tumors is poorly understood.