title: Adjuvant cellular immunotherapy in patients with resected primary non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: Postoperative non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients require adjuvant therapy to improve their prognosis. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of a sequential combination of autologous cellular immunotherapy (CIT) and chemotherapy for postoperative NSCLC. This retrospective study included 120 postoperative NSCLC patients: 60 cases received only chemotherapy; 33 cases received chemotherapy and sequential CIT with cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells; and 27 cases received chemotherapy and sequential CIT with alternate CIK and natural killer (NK) cells. Survival analysis showed significantly higher overall survival rates in the CIT group compared with the control group. Overall survival was higher in patients who received CIT with alternate CIK and NK cells than those who received treatment with only CIK cells. Multivariate analysis showed that adjuvant CIT was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival of patients with NSCLC. In subgroup analyses, adjuvant CIT significantly improved the overall survival of patients with less than 60 y old and positive lymph node. In conclusions, these data indicate that adjuvant CIT, especially with alternate application of CIK and NK cells, is an effective therapeutic approach to prolong survival of patients with NSCLC, particularly for patients ≤60 y old with positive lymph nodes.
authors.affiliation: Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China ; Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qiu-Zhong
authors.initials: QZ
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China ; Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qi-Jing
authors.initials: QJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yong-Qiang
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China ; Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jing-Jing
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China ; Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: De-Sheng
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Li-Xi
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Shi-Ping
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Miao-La
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.affiliation: Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China ; Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Xin
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China ; Department of Biotherapy; Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center ; Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Chuan
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Xia
keywords: benefit; cellular immunotherapy; cytokine-induced killer cells; natural killer cells; non-small cell lung cancer