The Treatment of Cancer with Activated Cytotoxic Leukocyte Subsets

Abstract

Cancer biotherapy focuses on stimulating natural defense mechanisms designed to control or eradicate cancer. Many distinct cancer biotherapy strategies have been formulated over the past two decades; one of the most promising involves the removal of cytotoxic leukocyte subsets from cancer patients, augmenting the cytotoxic function of these cells ex vivo and re-administering these activated cells with additional function-enhancing biologicals. This approach is termed adoptive cellular immunotherapy and is best represented at present by the activated killer monocyte and the lymphokinc activated killer cell therapies. The activation of cytotoxic monocytes with gamma interferon and the activation of cytotoxic lymphocytes with interleukin-2 are prototypic examples of adoptive immunotherapy research activity which is likely to expand in the near future.