[Clinical significance of serum and urinary neopterins after transcatheter arterial embolization for hepatocellular carcinoma].

To elucidate the immunological effects of transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), serum and urinary neopterins were measured using the radioimmunoassay in patients with HCC before and after TAE (n = 11), and compared with one shot arterial injection (AI)(n = 8). At the third day after TAE, serum and urinary neopterin levels were maximally elevated up to 164% and 158% from their respective baselines (p < 0.01). By contrast, these levels were unaffected after AI. In considering the changes of natural killer cell activity, C-reactive protein, transaminase and alpha-fetoprotein, these results suggest that the determination of neopterin levels after TAE may be not only valuable to assess the necrotic effect of TAE, but also be useful for evaluating cellular immunity after TAE.