Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of thymosin alpha 1 in maintained treatment of patients with primary liver cancer (PLC) after radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Methods A total of 75 patients with PLC and single-focal less than 5 cm were enrolled in our hospital, and all patients with PLC underwent RFA and were followed-up for 36 months to observe the relapse-free survival (RFS). After the interventional management, 35 patients received and 40 patients didn't received thymosin alpha 1 for maintained treatment for three months. Serum cytokines were detected by ELISA. Results The complete response (CR) after once RFA treatment in combination group was 80.0%, and in RFA-treated group was 82.5% (P<0.05), and all patients in the two groups got CR after second RFA or TACE; at the end of three month, there were no significant differences as respect to the changes of peripheral blood lymphocyte subset percentages (P>0.05), while serum IL-2 and IFN-γ levels in the combination group were 34.5(26.7,39.6)ng/L and 77.2(74.4,82.7)ng/L, significantly higher than [26.8(22.3, 28.4)ng/L and 64.6(59.7,75.9)ng/L, respectively, P<0.05] in the RFA-treated group; the median RFSs in the combination and control group were 26 months and 23 months (P>0.05), and the 1-year, 2-year and 3-year RFSs were 62.9%, 28.6% and 5.7%, some significantly different as compared to 55.0%, 17.5%(P＜0.05) and 0.0% in RFA-treated group; the multivariate analysis showed that the application of thymosin alpha 1, size of foci, special foci and CR after treatment were the independent factors impacting the prognosis of patientswith PLC after RFA treatment. Conclusion The administration of thymosin alpha 1 for maintained treatment after RFA might improve the survival of patients with PLC, which needs further investigation.

Key words: Hepatoma, Radiofrequency ablation, Thymosin alpha 1, Relapse-free survival