title: Postsurgical adjuvant chemoimmunotherapy with recombinant interleukin-2 and 1,3-bis-(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea on spontaneous metastases of a non-immunogenic murine tumour.
abstract: The efficacy of the association of recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) with chemotherapy has been investigated on an experimental model representative of clinical tumours, i.e. on post-surgical spontaneous metastases of a non-immunogenic tumour. We used the M5076 ovarian reticulum cell sarcoma, which metastasizes to the liver after intra-footpad implantation. Such a tumour appeared to be non-immunogenic by a variety of commonly used in vivo assays. Four clinically widely employed drugs, i.e. doxorubicin, cis-diamminedichloroplatinum II, cyclophosphamide and 1,3-bis-(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU), were tested and BCNU proved to be the most effective one when administered as single injection at the maximum tolerated dose (33 mg/kg i.p.) 1 day after tumour excision. When moderate doses of rIL-2 (6 x 10(5) IU in three injections per day for 5 days) were administered at three different intervals after BCNU, namely before the nadir of white blood cells (1 day after BCNU), at the nadir (3 days after BCNU) or at recovery (6 days after BCNU), no increase in BCNU antitumour activity was observed. The same results were obtained by administering rIL-2 for 5 days before BCNU. Higher doses of rIL-2 (1.2 x 10(6) IU in three injections per day for 5 days), which were always well tolerated in sham-excised non-tumour-bearing mice, proved lethal in two out of four experiments in tumour-bearing animals. In the two experiments in which no lethality was observed, the administration of high doses of rIL-2 1 or 6 days after BCNU significantly increased the antitumour activity of BCNU alone. rIL-2 alone was not active even when administered at high doses. These results indicate that high but not moderate doses of rIL-2 may increase the activity of BCNU against a non-immunogenic tumour. Moreover, they suggest that rIL-2 tolerability is reduced in tumour-bearing mice.
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Oncology B, Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Acerbis
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cleris
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodolfo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Parmiani
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Formelli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002330:Carmustine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004347:Drug Interactions; D005260:Female; D007167:Immunotherapy; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007958:Leukocyte Count / Q000187:drug effects; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D016403:Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D002330:Carmustine