Efficacy of immuno-cell therapy in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Shin-yokohama Medical Clinic, Usui Building 3F, 2-5-14 Shin-yokohama, Kohoku-ku,Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, 222-0033, Japan. kaneko@j-immunother.com

BACKGROUND: Patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma have a risk of relapse after primary therapy, and the prognosis for these patients remains bleak. The effect of immuno-cell therapy in advanced pancreatic carcinoma, with or without other standard therapies, was examined. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-six patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma, undergoing immuno-cell treatment, were evaluated. RESULTS: Of all the patients, those who received immuno-cell therapy alone accounted for 15.4% of partial response (PR), 23.1% of long-term stable disease (SD), 46.2% of SD and 15.4% of progressive disease (PD), and had a 50% survival time of 14.5 months. The respective values for the 28 patients undergoing immuno-cell therapy with gemcitabine were 10.7% of PR, 10.7% of long-term SD, 32.1% of SD and 46.4% of PD, with a 50% survival time of 15.8 months; for 5 patients undergoing immuno-cell therapy with UFT or TS-1, the values were 0% of PR, 0% of SD, 20.0% of SD and 80.0% of PD, with a 50% survival time of 16.1 months. CONCLUSION: The combination of immuno-cell therapies with standard therapies may be effective in the short-term in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Long-term survival depends on the presence of metastases and the duration of coadministration with these standard therapies.

PMID: 16302730 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]