Combined Radiofrequency Ablation and Double Anti-Angiogenic Protein Therapy to Increase Coagulation Efficacy: An Experimental Study in a Murine Renal Carcinoma Model

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether suppression of tumor microvasculature by double anti-angiogenic protein (DAAP) treatment could increase the extent of radiofrequency ablation (RFA)-induced coagulation in a murine renal cell carcinoma model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Renal cell carcinoma cell lines were implanted subcutaneously into 10 nude mice. Four mice received adenoviral DAAP treatment and 6 mice received sterile 0.9% saline solution as DAAP-untreated group. The effect of DAAP was evaluated according to the vascularity by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) using microbubbles. Four DAAP-treated mice and 4 DAAP-untreated mice were then treated with RFA, resulting in 3 groups: no-therapy (n = 2), RFA only (n = 4), and RFA combined with DAAP treatment (n = 4). Immediately after RFA, the size of coagulation necrosis and mitochondrial enzyme activity were compared between the groups using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc test. RESULTS: The contrast enhancement ratio for tumor vascularization on CEUS was significantly lower in the DAAP treated group than in DAAP-untreated group (30.2 ± 9.9% vs. 77.4 ± 17.3%; p = 0.021). After RFA, the mean coagulation diameter was 0 mm for no-therapy group, 6.7 ± 0.7 mm for the RFA only group and 8.5 ± 0.4 mm for the RFA with DAAP group (ANOVA, p < 0.001). The area of viable mitochondria within the tumor was 27.9 ± 3.9% in no-therapy group, 10.3 ± 4.5% in the RFA only group, and 2.1 ± 0.7% in the RFA with DAAP group (ANOVA, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest the potential value of combining RFA with anti-angiogenic therapy.