A preclinical study on the combination therapy of everolimus and transarterial chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is commonly used for the treatment of locally advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by its dual effects of chemotherapy and ischemic hypoxia. However, one of the side effects of TACE is the introduction of hypoxic condition, which in turn activates hypoxia-induced survival pathways and enhances VEGF-induced neovascularization by stabilizing HIF-1α expression. Herein, the preclinical therapeutic efficacy of the combined treatment of everolimus, a novel mTOR inhibitor and TACE for the treatment of HCC was investigated.