POSTOPERATIVE CHEMOIMMUNOTHERAPY FOR THE TREATMENT OF LIVER-CANCER

A randomized study using spleen-derived lymphokine-activated killer (L AK) cells in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is reported. We induced cy totoxic lymphocytes from resected spleen of HCC. The effect of recombi nant interleukin-2 (rlL-2)-activated spleen cells for prevention of re currence of HCC after hepatic resection was studied. Enough mononuclea r cells could be harvested froin the resected spleens. The induction o f activated spleen cells was carried out by culture in fresh medium co ntaining 1,500 JU/ml of IL-2. The cytotoxicity of the activated spleen cells maintained high levels during the culture period ranging from 3 -30 days. These autologous activated spleen cells were administered to patients 2 days after the intra-arterial infusion of Adriamycin. A ra ndomized study using these spleen LAK cells resulted in lower recurren ce rates in the LAK IL-2-treated group. No severe side effects were ob served. The lymphocytes derived from resected spleens were useful as t he source of effector cells in clinical adoptive immunochemotherapy fo r HCC, because of their higher cytotoxicity and the simplicity of gain ing a large amount of cells. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.