Analytical study of the clinical response to two distinct adoptive immunotherapies for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison between LAK cell and CTL therapy.
To evaluate the effect of two distinct adoptive immunotherapies, tumor-specific cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) therapy and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell therapy, the clinical responses of patients with stage IV primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with these therapies were studied. Of 18 patients treated with CTL, 3 had complete regression (CR), 2 had partial regression, and 3 had minor regression (MR). Their median survival was 21 months after the end of therapy, and 1 CR patient survived for > 6 years. On the other hand, in the LAK-cell-treated group of eight patients, four had MR and their median survival was only 2 months. No survival was observed 27 months after the end of LAK cell therapy. These results indicate that tumor-specific CTL therapy is more effective than LAK cell therapy and that it might be a promising therapeutic tool for advanced HCC patients.
Haruta
I
I
Division of Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical College, Japan.
Yamauchi
K
K
Aruga
A
A
Komatsu
T
T
Takasaki
K
K
Hayashi
N
N
Hanyu
F
F
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016219:Immunotherapy, Adoptive / Q000379:methods*; D015979:Killer Cells, Lymphokine-Activated / Q000276:immunology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome