ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses approaches using either specifically sensitized or broadly cytotoxic lymphocytes for adoptive immunotherapy (AIT) alone, and in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs, and also discusses experience with AIT, recombinant Interleukin-2 (rIL-2), and chemotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of murine renal cancer. Reports have shown that the therapeutic efficacy of IL-2 may be significantly enhanced when utilized in combination with certain chemotherapeutic drugs, even in the absence of adoptively transferred lymphocytes. The immune lymphocytes required the administration of exogenous IL-2 in vivo after adoptive transfer for the maintenance of functional lytic and effective therapeutic activity. The widespread application of rIL-2 to cancer therapy has been limited by the considerable toxicity induced by high doses of rIL-2 and the complexity and expense required to perform AIT plus rIL-2 protocols. These limitations of AIT and high-dose IL-2 therapy have led to preclinical chemoimmunotherapy approaches where less toxic doses of rIL-2 might be employed.
