Immune surveillance onpostoperative patients with advanced gastric cancer treated with concurrent chemotherapyand dendritic cells vaccine

Abstract

：Objective To evaluateclinical outcome in postoperative patients with advanced gastric cancer treated withconcurrent chemotherapy and dendritic cells (DCs) vaccine as well as alteration of immunefunction. Methods Sixty-four postoperative patients with advance gastric cancer weredivided into control group and DC vaccine group, In control group, 38 patients weretreated with LCH regimen consisted of 5-fluorouracil 0.75 g/d_(1-5) and oxaliplatin 0.2g/d_1. In DC vaccine group,blood sample was obtained from 26 patients who were followed byLCH regimen treatment next day.One week after the chemotherapy, patients were immunizedwith DC vaccine for 2 times at interval of one week. The second cycle was performed after28 days. The percentages of T lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells and cytokinelevels before and after treatment were compared between two groups. The therapeuticeffects (including no remote metastasis and enlarged lymph nodes in cavity and/or tumorreduced in volume) were also evaluated. Results The concentrations of T lymphocytes (CD3~+and CD4~+ ), NK cells, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-12 and interferon-γ in DC vaccine group were significantly increased after vaccinationcompared with those before vaccination (P＜0.05), and even higher thanthose in control group (P＜0.05). The effective rate washigher in DC vaccine group (80. 76%) than that in control group (68.42%) with significantdifference (P＜0. 05). The side effects of chemotherapy such as the decreasedperipheral white blood ceils and immune cells were less serious in DC vaccine groupcompared with control group (P＜ 0.05), while theuncomfortable incidence of gastrointestinal tract and peripheral neuritis showed nosignificant difference between two groups (P＞0.05). Conclusions Application of concurrent chemotherapyand DC vaccine in patients with advanced gastric cancer after surgical treatment mayachieve a short-term efficacy, meanwhile it can reduce the side effects induced bychemotherapy. Key words: Stomach neoplasms; Denedrtic cells; Vaccines