Improvement of monocyte chemotaxis with BCG immunotherapy in acute lymphoblastic leukemia: Comparison of chemotherapy versus chemotherapy plus immunotherapy as therapeutic regimens

Abstract

Thirty-six patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were divided into a group receiving chemotherapy and a group receiving identical chemotherapy plus BCG immunotherapy. Monocyte cellular chemotaxis in both groups was initially significantly depressed compared with that in a group of age-matched controls (P<0.001). Chemotaxis in both patient groups improved with therapy. The mean improvement in chemotaxis per day of the group treated with chemotherapy plus BCG was over 3 times that of the group receiving chemotherapy alone (P<0.01). This change was not due solely to quantitative increases in monocyte numbers. The T-cell subset of ALL patients showed the same response in chemotaxis to chemotherapy plus immunotherapy as the null-cell ALL patients. In vitro monocyte chemotaxis in ALL patients was significantly increased by the addition of BCG immunotherapy to a standard chemotherapy regimen.