Impact of dendritic cells combining with cytokine-induced killer cells synergized chemotherapy in patients of advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Abstract

e19018 Background: Advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains an incurable disease by following conventional chemotherapy and is the major cause of cancer–related mortality worldwide. Dendritic cells (DC) play a central role in the induction of an effective antitumor immune response. Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells, the subset of T lymphocytes, have a profound capacity to cytolytically eliminate cancer cells. This study was designed to evaluate how the times of receiving DC/CIKs vaccination following regular chemotherapy impact the overall survival time in patients of advanced lung cancer. Methods: 43 patients suffering from IIIB-IV NSCLC were enrolled in the study between August 2004 and December 2008, and all received four courses of vinolbine-platinum (NP) chemotherapy followed by vaccinated with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) peptide-pulsed autologus dendritic cells and CIK cells. Vaccination was repeated at 30-day intervals until the patient refused to accept. The adverse effect and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. Results: Median survival time (MST) of all patients was 19.50 months. The 1-, 2- and 3-year overall survival rate was 66.50%, 41.04%, 28.14% respectively. The 1-, 2- and 3-year overall survival rate of patients who received no less than two times of vaccination therapy was 83.92%, 74.59%, 49.73% and who received only one time was 59.44%, 23.71%, 17.78% respectively. A statistically significant difference between the two groups was identified (p=0.0052). The adverse effect as a result of chemoimmunotherapy was tolerable. Conclusions: Advanced NSCLC patients can benefit from the combination of DC-CIK vaccination followed conventional chemotherapy,and the more vaccination therapy received the longer overall survival time observed.