The Clinical Course in Patients with Renal Carcinoma Subjected to Extracorporeal lmmunoadsorption

Abstract

The clinical course in 4 patients with renal carcinoma stages II, III or IV subjected to periods of extracorporeal immunoadsorption is reported. By this technique it is possible to isolate and remove circulating tumor associated antigens from the blood stream. The removal of these antigens should, according to present-day concepts, make it possible to control antigenic inhibition and/or blocking, thus facilitating the immune mediated destruction of residual tumor cells in advanced disease. The clinical course in these patients did not differ from the expected clinical course in other such patients. The failure of extracorporeal immunoadsorption to alter the natural course of the disease may be due to too large a tumor burden or to the possibility that spontaneous tumors during evolution and progression become independent of immune restrictions.