A regimen of IV SAMe was started one day after injecting the cells and continued for ten days.
"Treatment with IV SAMe by continuous infusion significantly reduced the tumour size and significantly prevented tumour development after 11 days," said researchers.
Researchers found that if SAMe infusion was started after sizable tumours had already formed it failed to reduce the rate of tumour growth after 24 days of treatment.
This is because of a compensatory response of the liver to metabolize SAMe and prevent its accumulation.
"The observation that SAMe failed to exert any therapeutic effect in already established HCC is disappointing," said Lu.
"But whether SAMe can be effective in treating HCC in man remains unclear because this compensatory mechanism may not work properly in human HCC.
"Nevertheless, effectiveness of SAMe in chemoprevention of human HCC deserves study now," Lu added.
The findings are published in journal Hepatology.
Source: ANI
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