M. Tani et al., SUCCESSFUL IMMUNOCHEMOTHERAPY FOR PATIENTS WITH MALIGNANT MESOTHELIOMA - REPORT OF 2 CASES, SURGERY TODAY-THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF SURGERY, 28(6), 1998, pp. 647-651
Malignant mesothelioma is a clinically aggressive tumor and has a poor
prognosis; therefore, the selection of therapeutic strategies is impo
rtant to improve the prognosis. Two patients with intraperitoneal mali
gnant mesothelioma received combination therapy as follows: (1) case-o
riented chemotherapy according to the results of a chemosensitivity te
st, and (2) adoptive immunotherapy using cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL)
. The chemosensitivity test was assessed by an MTT colorimetric assay.
CTL was generated by a mixed culture with autologous tumor cells, and
activated by immobilized anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody and interleukin
-2, The MTT assay indicated that cisplatin and adriamycin were sensiti
ve drugs in both patients, and they thus received the case-oriented ch
emotherapy according to the MTT assay. The activated CTL exhibited a h
igh cytotoxicity against autologous malignant mesothelioma cells, and
were transferred intraperitoneally, The patients were controllable for
ascites, and the tumor masses gradually vanished (partial response).
Chemoimmunotherapy is thus considered to be an effective treatment for
intraperitoneal malignant mesothelioma, especially to improve the qua
lity of life.