Malignant hemangioendothelioma.
BACKGROUND
The administration of interleukin-2 (IL-2) has recently been reported to be favorable for treating malignant hemangioendothelioma (MHE).


METHODS
Two patients with MHE responded well to intralesional injections of recombinant IL-2 (rIL-2) without major side effects. The purpose of this study was to characterize cells infiltrating the regressing tumor following rIL-2 treatment. Immunohistochemical studies were performed on biopsy specimens taken from rIL-2-injected lesional skin.


RESULTS
It was shown that CD8+ lymphocytes and CD56+ natural killer (NK) cells infiltrated at the rIL-2-injection sites, suggesting that these cells contributed to the tumor regression. In addition, MHE cells bore intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) whose expression was augmented by rIL-2 injections.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggested, that rIL-2 not only induces lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells and NK cells, but also facilitates these cytotoxic cells to adhere to MHE cells by enhancing ICAM-1 expression of tumor cells.
Department of Dermatology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan.
H
H
Ihda
Y
Y
Tokura
M
M
Fushimi
R
R
Yokote
H
H
Hashizume
S
S
Shirahama
K
K
Iwatsuki
K
K
Murakami
M
M
Takigawa
D000368:Aged; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006394:Hemangiosarcoma / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000032:analysis; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy
D007376:Interleukin-2; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1