Adoptive Cell Therapy of Melanoma with Cytokine-induced Killer Cells.
Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer and its incidence is gradually increasing worldwide. Patients with metastatic melanoma have a very poor prognosis (estimated 5-year survival rate of <16%). In the last few years, several drugs have been approved for malignant melanoma, such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint blockades. Although new therapeutic agents have improved progression-free and overall survival, their use is limited by drug resistance and drug-related toxicity. At the same time, adoptive cell therapy of metastatic melanoma with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes has shown promising results in preclinical and clinical studies. In this review, we summarize the currently available drugs for treatment of malignant melanoma. In addition, we suggest cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells as another candidate approach for adoptive cell therapy of melanoma. Our preclinical study and several previous studies have shown that CIK cells have potent anti-tumor activity against melanomas in vitro and in an in vivo human tumor xenograft model without any toxicity.
College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 362-763, Korea.
Ji Sung
JS
Kim
College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 362-763, Korea.
Yong Guk
YG
Kim
College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 362-763, Korea.
Minji
M
Pyo
College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 362-763, Korea.
Hong Kyung
HK
Lee
College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 362-763, Korea.
Jin Tae
JT
Hong
College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 362-763, Korea.
Youngsoo
Y
Kim
College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 362-763, Korea.
Sang-Bae
SB
Han
Cytokine-induced killer cells; Melanoma; Preclinical study