A CLINICAL-STUDY OF IMMUNOTHERAPY VERSUS ENDOCRINE THERAPY VERSUS CHEMOTHERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF ADVANCED PANCREATIC ADENOCARCINOMA

The advanced carcinoma of pancreas still remains an untreatable diseas e. Both chemotherapy and hormono-therapy seem not to prolong the survi val time. Also immunotherapy with IL-2 has been shown to have no effic acy. Our experimental studies suggested the possibility of enhancing t he antitumor activity of IL-2 by the administration of immunomodulatin g neurohormones, such as melatonin (MLT). This study was carried out t o evaluate the efficacy of IL-2 plus MLT in advanced cancer of the pan creas. Fifty patients, with advanced adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, w ere randomized to receive chemotherapy consisting of 5-FU plus folates , endocrine therapy with LHRH and somatostatin analogues, supportive c are alone or immunotherapy with subcutaneous low-dose IL-2 plus MLT. A partial response was obtained in 1/13 patients treated with chemother apy and in 2/12 patients receiving immunotherapy; no tumor regression was seen in the other groups. The percent of survival at 1 year achiev ed in patients treated with immunotherapy was significantly higher tha n in the other groups tested (3/12 vs 1/38; p<0.02). This preliminary study would suggest that the immunotherapy with IL-2 plus MLT may repr esent a new promising treatment of advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma.