title: Interleukin-2 and interleukin-4 display potent antitumour activity on rat medullary thyroid carcinoma cells.
abstract: Currently, surgical resection is the only treatment used for human medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). However, as metastases are commonly observed, we investigated the potential of adjuvant therapy with interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) in a rat model. The interleukins were delivered by means of xenogeneic tumour cells engineered to secrete IL-2 and IL-4. We found that when a mixture of MTC cells and IL-2 or IL-4 secreting cells were implanted in rats, the growth of the resulting tumours was inhibited as a function of the number of interleukin-secreting cells in the inoculum. Moreover, association of the two interleukins exerted a synergistic antitumour effect. These experimental results, showing thyroid C cell tumour rejection, are of major interest, as they show the potential therapeutic application for these two interleukins, which could be used, in particular, as postsurgical adjuvants.
authors.affiliation: U.349 INSERM, Centre Viggo Petersen, Paris, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cressent
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pidoux
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Modigliani
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051379:Mice; D051381:Rats; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D007376:Interleukin-2; D015847:Interleukin-4