SEQUENTIAL CHEMOIMMUNOTHERAPY FOR ADVANCED NON-SMALL-CELL LUNG-CANCERUSING CISPLATIN, ETOPOSIDE, THYMOSIN-ALPHA-1 AND INTERFERON-ALPHA-2A

A phase II study was performed to evaluate the clinical and immunologi cal effects of a regimen of cisplatin (DDP) and etoposide (VP-16) comb ined with thymosin-alpha 1 (TA1) and low-dose interferon-alpha 2a (IFN ) in the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cance r (NSCLC). Chemoimmunotherapy cycles were repeated every 3 weeks. Ther e were 24 responses (two complete, 22 partial) among 56 assessable pat ients. Median survival was 12.6 months. Overall, treatment was well to lerated. Natural killer cell activity and lymphocyte subtypes were dep ressed by chemotherapy, but this effect was less prominent in patients receiving TA1 and IFN in comparison with a concomitant group of patie nts treated with DDP and VP-16 only. The combination of DDP and VP-16 and TA1 and IFN is effective in advanced NSCLC with acceptable toxicit y. However, the results of this study need to be confirmed in a random ised trial.