Prognostic value of the immunomonitoring of patients with renal cell carcinoma under therapy with IL-2/IFN-alpha-2 in combination with 5-FU.
After tumor nephrectomy, patients suffering from metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) received interleukin-2 (IL-2), interferon (IFN)-alpha-2b and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in one to three treatment cycles over 8 weeks. Using flow cytometry, we investigated the immunophenotype of peripheral blood lymphocytes from 22 patients during therapy. In all patients, we found an increase in the absolute number of T lymphocytes, especially of the CD4 type, and in the number of HLA-DR+, CD25+ T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. The mean number of B cells did not increase during therapy. The numbers of CD4+, CD8+ and CD25+ T cells correlated significantly with the clinical response. In addition, we found that the pretherapeutic number of T lymphocytes and B cells but not of NK cells was significantly higher in patients with a therapy-induced clinical response. In conclusion, we describe the predictive value of the number of lymphocytes from peripheral blood for the efficiency of IL-2/IFN-alpha-2b therapy in combination with 5-FU in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
Göhring
B
B
Department of Urology, Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany.
Riemann
D
D
Rebmann
U
U
Heynemann
H
H
Schabel
J
J
Langner
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015166:Monitoring, Immunologic; D011379:Prognosis; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology
D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D007376:Interleukin-2; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D005472:Fluorouracil