Cumulative clinical experience suggests that immunotherapy may be an effective tool for eradicating tumor cells resistant to maximum tolerated doses of chemotherapy and radiation. Immunotherapy is much more effective when applied at the stage of minimal residual disease, especially against slowly growing tumors because development of graft-versus-leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, or in a broader sense graft-versus-tumor effects renders immunotherapy more time consuming. Hence, eradication of rapidly growing bulky tumors may be difficult or impossible to achieve. Considering the fact that optimal immunotherapy may be accomplished in patients treated at the stage of minimal (MRD) disease, in patients with hematological malignancies and chemosensitive solid tumors a stage of MRD may be best achieved following administration of myeloab lative high-dose chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy supported by autologous stem cell transplantation (autoSCT). Taken together, immunotherapy following autoSCT may provide an ideal combination for improving the cure rate of otherwise incurable cancers, especially if tumor cells may respond to cytokine-mediated immunotherapy or cell-mediated cytokine-activated immunotherapy. Following lymphocyte depletion in the course of autoSCT, adoptive transfer of alloreactive or tumor-reactive lymphocytes may be much more effective due to the preponderance of anticancer effector cells on the one hand, and elimination or depletion of the patient’s regulatory cells that may downregulate anticancer effector mechanisms.

Keywords:
Immunotherapy, Cell-mediated immunotherapy, Cytokine-mediated immunotherapy, Minimal residual disease, High-dose chemoradiotherapy, Autologous stem cell transplantation, Recombinant human interleukin 2, <keyword>Leukemia, Lymphoma, Metastatic solid tumors
© 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel
2005
Copyright / Drug Dosage / Disclaimer
Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, microcopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Drug Dosage: The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any changes in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug.
Disclaimer: The statements, opinions and data contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publishers and the editor(s). The appearance of advertisements or/and product references in the publication is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality or safety. The publisher and the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements.
You do not currently have access to this content.