title: Pre-operative IL-2 immunoprophylaxis of cancer recurrence: long-term clinical results of a phase II study in radically operable colorectal cancer.
abstract: This study evaluates retrospectively the outcome of 20 colorectal cancer patients radically operated (M/F 13/7; primary/recurrent 15/5; Dukes B=11; C=6; D=3) who received pre-operative IL-2 (18,000, 000 IU/daily s.c. for 3 days) and the outcome of 40 colorectal cancer (primary/recurrent 40/0) patients age, sex and stage-matched radically operated, as control group. After a median follow-up of 72 months, in the IL-2 pre-operative group we observed 6/20 recurrences (30%) vs. 19/40 (47.5%) in controls. Mean and median disease-free period in patients who relapsed were respectively 21 months and 20.5 months (range 6-36) in IL-2 group vs. 14.1 and 12 months in the control group (range 3-34). After a 5-year follow-up, 4/20 (20%) IL-2 treated patients were dead vs. 19/40 control patients (47.5%) (log-rank chi2=3.7, p=0.05). Pre-operative IL-2 administration is safe, active in preventing post-operative lymphocytopenia and seems to improve the clinical outcome in radically operated colorectal cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Third Division of General Surgery, Ospedale San Gerardo, 20052 Monza, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brivio
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lissoni
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fumagalli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Girlando
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Marsili
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nespoli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Uggeri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2; D011994:Recombinant Proteins