Embolic agents used in transarterial embolization for intermediate stage hepatocellular carcinoma reduce blood flow into tumors and can deliver anticancer drugs. Tumor blood supply can be interrupted using doxorubicin-eluting beads (DEB-TACE) or non-loaded beads (TAE) of different calibers. In this preclinical study, we characterized the extent of remaining stressed tumor cells after treatment, hypoxia within the surviving tumor regions, and inflammatory immune cell infiltrates after embolization with 40-60 or 70-150 μm with non-loaded or doxorubicin-loaded beads at 3 and 7 days after treatment. TAE-treated tumors had more stressed and surviving tumor cells after 3 days, irrespective of bead size, compared with DEB-TACE-treated tumors. Hypoxic stress of residual cells increased after treatment with 70-150 μm beads without or with doxorubicin. Treatment with DEB-TACE of 70-150 μm resulted in increased inflammation and proliferation in the adjacent parenchyma. Inflammatory cell infiltrates were reduced at the periphery of tumors treated with 40-60 μm DEB-TACE.

用于中期肝细胞癌经动脉栓塞术的栓塞剂可减少流入肿瘤的血流，并可输送抗癌药物。可以使用不同口径的多柔比星洗脱珠 (DEB-TACE) 或非加载珠 (TAE) 中断肿瘤血液供应。在这项临床前研究中，我们描述了治疗后剩余应激肿瘤细胞的程度、存活肿瘤区域内的缺氧以及在使用 40-60 或 70-150 μm 未加载或加载多柔比星的珠栓塞后炎症免疫细胞浸润的程度治疗后第 3 天和第 7 天。与 DEB-TACE 治疗的肿瘤相比，TAE 治疗的肿瘤在 3 天后具有更多的应激和存活的肿瘤细胞，无论微珠大小如何。在用 70-150 μm 珠子（不含或含多柔比星）处理后，残留细胞的缺氧应激增加。用 70-150 μm 的 DEB-TACE 治疗导致邻近实质的炎症和增殖增加。用 40-60 μm DEB-TACE 治疗的肿瘤周围的炎症细胞浸润减少。