A new regimen of interleukin 2 and lymphokine-activated killer cells. Efficacy without significant toxicity

Abstract

Adoptive immunotherapy with high-dose interleukin 2 and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells has proved to be successful in the treatment of some patients with metastatic cancer, but not without a significant degree of associated toxic effects. The primary goal of this study was to substantially reduce the toxicity of this complex and expensive treatment, while maintaining or improving efficacy. To this end, 29 patients were treated with LAK cells in conjunction with a low-dose regimen of interleukin 2 and a prolonged period of administration following LAK cell infusion. This protocol resulted in a considerable reduction in toxicity, as compared with that described in previous studies, without compromising the efficacy. This study offers further confirmation that adoptive immunotherapy of metastatic cancer can be clinically beneficial to patients for whom no other effective therapy is presently available.