The therapeutic effect of OK-432-combined adoptive immunotherapy against liver metastases from breast cancer

Abstract

We studied the therapeutic effect of OK-432 combined with adoptive immunotherapy in 19 cases of liver metastases from breast cancer. Of the 14 patients who received intraarterial OK-432 injection and transfer of cultured lymphocytes, 9 responded to this therapy, whereas no patients responded to intravenous administration. The minimum cell number for a therapeutic response was 8 x 10(8) cells. Metastatic lesions other than those in the liver regressed after therapy in 4 patients. The serum carcinoembryonic antigen level paralleled the therapeutic effect. There were no severe side-effects accompanying this therapy. These results indicate that intraarterial adoptive immunotherapy combined with OK-432 is effective as a new therapeutic approach against liver metastases from breast cancer.

Cyclophosphamide given after active specific immunization augments antitumor immunity by modulation of Th1 commitment of CD4+ T cells

“…Three days later, 3 H-thymidine (1.0 Ci/well) was added to each well for the last 6 hr and cells were harvested onto a 96-well UniFilter plate GFC96 by a Filtermate cell harvester (Packard, Meriden, CT). Their radioactivity was measured by a liquid scintillation counter (Packard) and mean count per minute (cpm) was calculated from triplicate wells.…”

“…Our previous studies demonstrated that sonicated tumor supernatant (SS) as an antigen source could be used to induce autologous tumorspecific cytotoxic T cells (CTL) in in vitro cocultured systems with lymphocytes from patients with malignant disease [3]. In murine tumor models, when combined with interleukin-1 (IL-1) as an adjuvant [4], administra-tion of SS could include tumor-specific protective immunity and CD4 + T cells have been revealed to be the main effectors [5].…”

Bone metastasis as a prognostic factor in breast cancer patients with liver metastasis given OK-432-combined adoptive immunotherapy via the hepatic artery

“…The method of intraarterial adoptive immunotherapy was described elsewhere (4,5). Briefly, the patients received OK-432 (Chungai Pharm.…”

“…We have developed a regional immunotherapy consisting of sequential treatment with OK-432, a streptococcal preparation, and autologous T cells cultured with tumor extract and interleukin-2(3), and have achieved a response rate of 64-65% in patients with liver metastases from breast cancer (4,5). Many patients in our previous series (4,5) had extra-hepatic metastasis.…”

“…Many patients in our previous series (4,5) had extra-hepatic metastasis. However, we had found that bone metastases of some patients improved after the response in the liver (4).…”