ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors describe the results of their studies in rats and humans regarding the potential usefulness of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) therapy in combination with autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT). Adoptive immunotherapy with LAK cells and interleukin-2 (IL-2) represents a new approach in the treatment of cancer. LAK cells are functionally defined as lymphocytes capable after culture in IL-2 of lysing fresh tumor cells in vitro and have been proven useful in the control of metastatic tumors in animal models and in some human cancer patients. To eliminate the residual malignant cells in the autologous bone marrow graft, several methods of purging are employed: antibody-mediated techniques, drugs, photosensitization, culture of bone marrow, and combinations of drugs and antibodies. The authors anticipate that the results can be substantially improved by incorporating procedures that allow for the generation of purified LAK cell preparations and by developing incubation conditions that will allow for more effective killing.
