CLINICAL EFFICACY OF RECOMBINANT INTERLEUKIN-2 FOR RENAL CELL CARCINOMA AND THE EFFECT OF BLOOD TRANSFUSION UPON THE IMMUNE RESPONSE OF THESE PATIENTS

: We studied the efficacy and safety of recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2: S-6820) for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma as well as the effect of blood transfusion upon the immune response of these patients. Among 14 cases of renal cell carcinoma treated by i.v. infusion of rIL-2, a partial response (PR) was achieved in one patient, 10 patients had no change, and in 3 had the disease progressed. The overall efficacy rate was 7.1%. However, the rate increased to 12.5% in cases with pulmonary metastases and to 14.3% in cases without any blood transfusion within a year before treatment with rIL-2. No severe side effects were observed, except for central nervous system disturbance in one case. During the rIL-2 therapy, LAK activity was suppressed in the transfused patients. On the other hand, NK activity was augmented in transfused patients to the same degree as in non-transfused cases. No significant changes of lymphocyte count and the subsets of peripheral blood lymphocytes were observed in either group treated with rIL-2. Anemia and radical nephrectomy did not affect the immune response in these patient. Thus, it appeared that blood transfusion altered the immune response in patients treated with rIL-2. However, it could not be concluded that transfusion definitely had an adverse effect on the clinical efficacy of rIL-2 for renal cell carcinoma.