title: Effectiveness and safety of chemotherapy combined with cytokine-induced killer cell /dendritic cell-cytokine-induced killer cell therapy for treatment of gastric cancer in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: Currently, cytokine-induced killer cells (CIK)/dendritic cell (DC)-CIK-mediated immunotherapy is widely used to treat gastric cancer. However, limited information regarding clinical trials on CIK/DC-CIK therapy is available. Therefore, systemic evaluation of the efficacy and safety of the combination therapy is necessary.
  
  
  
  A meta-analysis involving 1735 patients with gastric cancer was conducted. Before analysis, the study quality and heterogeneity were evaluated. The effects of chemotherapy combined with CIK/DC-CIK on gastric cancer were compared with the effects observed when chemotherapy alone was used. Pooled analysis was performed using RevMan version 5.2 from random or fixed-effect models.
  
  
  
  Seventeen trials were included. First, the analysis showed that the combination therapy significantly increased the overall survival rate and disease-free survival rate compared with those in patients treated using chemotherapy alone. The overall response rate (P = 0.002), disease control rate (P = 0.0007), and quality of life improved rate (P = 0.0008) were significantly improved in patients who received combined treatment than in patients who received chemotherapy alone. Second, the percentage of lymphocyte subsets (CD3(+), CD4(+) and CD3(-)CD56(+), CD3(+)CD56(+); P <0.01) and the levels of interleukin-12 and interferon-γ, which reflect immune function, were significantly increased (P <0.05) after the CIK/DC-CIK therapy. Further, carbohydrate antigen tumor markers were significantly reduced compared with the pre-therapy levels. Immunotherapy with CIK/DC-CIK obviously alleviated the adverse events caused by chemotherapy.
  
  
  
  The combination of CIK/DC-CIK therapy and chemotherapy was superior in prolonging the survival time, enhancing immune function and alleviating the adverse events caused by chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng Clinical School, Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.affiliation: Department of Central Laboratory, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng Clinical School, Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Chang-Hui
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Central Laboratory, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng Clinical School, Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Shuang-Feng
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Central Laboratory, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng Clinical School, Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Central Laboratory, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng Clinical School, Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Ying-Xin
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Central Laboratory, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng Clinical School, Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Pei
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Central Laboratory, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng Clinical School, Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong Province, China. Electronic address: wangweihualc@163.com.
authors.forename: Wei-Hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002681:China; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D055612:Cytokine-Induced Killer Cells / Q000276:immunology; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets; D011788:Quality of Life; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents
keywords: cytokine-induced killer cells; dendritic cells; gastric cancer; immunotherapy; meta-analysis