[Lysis of autologous tumor cells by peripheral blood lymphocytes treated with IFN-alpha in patients with renal cell carcinoma].

Immunotherapy, consisting mainly of interferon (IFN) therapy, has been used to treat renal cell carcinoma refractory to radiotherapy and chemotherapy ever since IFN was reported to be effective against renal cell carcinoma in 1982. The efficacy of IFN is low, with the response rate being only about 20% and the method and duration of its administration have yet to be established. Using viable tumor cells obtained at nephrectomy, we discovered that IFN-alpha induced killer cells have a cytocidal effect on autologous renal cell carcinoma cells and that assaying the cellular immunity of the peripheral blood lymphocytes of 25 patients with renal cell carcinoma, using ACHN derived from human renal cell carcinoma as the target cells, is useful as a monitoring method during IFN-alpha therapy. Augmentation of the cytotoxicity of peripheral blood lymphocytes in response to administration of IFN-alpha was observed in all 25 cases. Cytotoxicity was activated to 5-426 LU compared with the control value of 1 LU or less before IFN therapy, when autologous renal cell carcinoma cells were used as the target cells. Cytotoxicity for ACHN cells in the control value before IFN-alpha therapy and 4 weeks after the institution of IFN-alpha administration and autologous tumor lysis in the induction assay were more strongly correlated than in the case of K562 cells. A strong correlation was also found between cytotoxicity for ACHN cells in the induction assay and 4 weeks after the institution of IFN-alpha administration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)