Immunotherapy of patients with advanced cancer using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and recombinant interleukin-2: a pilot study.

Abstract

Clinical investigations using the adoptive transfer of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells and recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) to treat patients with advanced cancer have yielded encouraging results. We have thus sought ways to enhance the effectiveness of adoptive immunotherapy while minimizing its toxic side effects. Murine experiments have identified tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) as killer cells more effective than LAK cells and less dependent on adjunctive systemically administered IL-2 to mediate antitumor effects. Accordingly, we performed a pilot protocol to investigate the feasibility and practicality of administering IL-2-expanded TIL to humans with metastatic cancers. Twelve patients, including six with melanoma, four with renal cell carcinoma, one with breast carcinoma, and one with colon carcinoma, were treated with varying doses and combinations of TIL (8.0 X 10(9) to 2.3 X 10(11) cells per patient), IL-2 (10,000 to 100,000 U/kg three times daily to dose-limiting toxicity), and c...