Prolonged continuous hepatic artery infusion with interleukin-2 in unresectable liver metastases of colorectal cancer: a phase IA-B study.

Although high response rates have been reported with hepatic arterial infusion of chemotherapy for colorectal cancer metastasized to the liver, convincing evidence of improved survival is lacking [1]. Therefore the search for new drugs for this application is warranted. With systemic administration of interleukin-2 (IL-2) incidental long lasting remissions in patients with colorectal cancer have been observed [2]. High dose systemic IL-2 therapy is associated with severe vital organ toxicity [2]. Higher local IL-2 levels can be achieved by intrahepatic IL-2 administration, and may result in less systemic toxicity. We report on a phase IA-B study of IL-2 administered via the hepatic artery in patients with liver metastases of colorectal cancer.