Immunosuppressive Acidic Protein Research Articles

Prognostic Value of Immunosuppressive Acidic Protein and Oxidative Stress Status in Critically Ill Patients.

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to determine the prognostic value of admission immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), total oxidant status (TOS), and total antioxidant status (TAS) in 161 critically ill patients.Materials and methodsThis prospective observational study was carried out in the Emergency Department ICU for 6 months. Critically ill patients were included in the study consecutively. The main outcomes were the need for early mechanical ventilation (MV) and in-hospital mortality.ResultsThe mean age of 161 patients was 66.5 ± 17.1 years. The median IL-6 levels of patients who required early MV were significantly higher than of the patients who required no MV (p < 0.001), and the median IL-6 levels in the nonsurvivors were significantly higher than in the survivors (p < 0.001). The median IAP levels were not significantly different between the groups (p = 0.464 for early MV and p = 0.340 for the in-hospital mortality group). The AUCs of IL-6 and TOS for predicting in-hospital mortality were 0.819 and 0.608, respectively.ConclusionThe IAP level on admission to ICU is ineffective in predicting the need for early MV and in-hospital mortality; however, IL-6 level on admission is a strong prognostic predictor in critically ill patients. Our findings showed that the burden of oxidative stress was high in general ICU patients.Clinical significanceOur study showed that increased oxidative stress is an important problem in critically ill patients. If measures are taken to reduce oxidative stress by physicians, the prognosis of critically ill patients will be better.How to cite this articleTutuncu EO, Dundar ZD, Kilinc I, Tutuncu A, Kocak S, Girisgin AS. Prognostic Value of Immunosuppressive Acidic Protein and Oxidative Stress Status in Critically Ill Patients. Indian J Crit Care Med 2021;25(4):405–410.

The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and immunosuppressive acidic protein may be useful parameters for predicting depression among middle-aged patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma.

Patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) may experience depression. Growing evidence shows that depression interacts with immunity. However, the relationship between depression and immunity among DLBCL patients has not been investigated, despite reports indicating that patients with DLBCL often suffer from depression. To accurately investigate the relationship between depression and immunity, 82 primarily diagnosed middle-aged patients with DLBCL who received standard chemotherapy were enrolled. The patients were divided into depressed and nondepressed groups according to Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) scores. Prozac was used to treat patients with depression until their symptoms were alleviated. The concentration of immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP); percentages of cluster of differentiation (CD)3+, CD4+, and CD8+ T lymphocytes and CD56+ natural killer (NK) cells; absolute lymphocyte count (ALC); and neutrophil--lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were calculated at enrollment and after treatment. A higher score on the depression test was positively associated with serum IAP levels and NLR, and negatively associated with ALC. The levels of NLR and serum IAP in the depressed patients were significantly higher compared to those in the nondepressed patients. Our results suggest for the first time that IAP and the NLR are closely correlated with depression and may be parameters for predicting depression.

Immunosuppressive Acidic Protein- Haematological correlates in HIV infected subjects

Background: Immunosuppressive Acidic protein (IAP) is a marker of the extent of immune defects occurring in most cancers. Its correlation with CD4 cell count used as an indicator of immune function and disease progression in Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) infection is not well documented.Aims and Objectives: To determine if IAP levels correlates with immunosupression and haematopathology occurring in HIV/AIDS infection.Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti. One hundred and five participants consisting of 85 HIV infected test subjects and 20 control subjects were enrolled into the study. CD4 counts was obtained using SL Cyflow machine, IAP levels determined using ELISA kit for human IAP and Full blood count for all participants was obtained using Sysmex KX-21N Haematology Analyzer. Regression and correlation analysis was done on data using SPSS 28.Results: IAP showed a negative correlation with CD4 count (r= -0.6), (r= -0.9) and (r= -0.2) in the ART, NART and control groups. The pattern of the results was similar with other parameters except in Neutrophils (r= 0.2) (r= 0.3) and (0.1), Eosinophil (r= 0.6) (r= -0.4) and (r= -0.2) and Lymphocyte (r = -0.3) (r= -0.02) and (r= 0.05) in the ART, NART and control groups respectively. CConclusion: The outcome of this study show that a strong negative relationship exist between IAP and other immunohaematological parameters used for monitoring Immune status in HIV infection; however the information gotten is not sufficient to indicate IAP as a predictor of immune status in HIV infection. Further studies are therefore required to better elucidate the mechanism of increased IAP levels at different clinical stages of HIV infection.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.8(5) 2017 8-16

Early Diagnosis of Gynecological Cancers in Ladies with Review of Literature

The most prevalent cancers in ladies are cervical, endometrial and Ovarian. The biomarkers prevalent in use for these gynaecological cancers are commonly Cancer antigen 125 (CA-125), B, Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), Inhibin, Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen, Carbohydrate antigen 19-9, Cancer antigen 27-29, Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), Osteopontin, transthyretin, Immunosuppressive acidic protein(IAP), leptin, CA15-3, CK19 and Thymidine kinase. The biomarker marker Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen, CK19 and immunosuppressive acidic protein IAP are raised in cervical squamous cell carcinomas. Endometrial cancer is a common cancer in women. In 75% of endometrial cancer cases, the tumor remains confined to the uterus and has a favorable prognosis if early detected. The prognosis, however, worsens dramatically as the disease progresses. The objective of this review is to elucidate the importance of the tumor markers for early diagnosis of gynaecological malignancies which are vital and life saving. Similarly the relevant biomarkers in combination are found to have positive predictive values and significant p values in the endometrial and cervical cancer. In Cervix cancer the positive predictive value of these markers combined is usually 92% - 95% and negative predictive value 93% - 96%. The confidence interval is 98% and p value significant 0.005. Sensitivity of tumor markers combined CK19, SCC and immunosuppressive acidic protein IAP in Cervix cancer detection is 95% and specificity 96%. The highest sensitivity was for SCC antigen (98.7%) while the highest specificity was for Cytokeratin 19 (99.7%). The positive predictive value by combination of CK19, SCC and IAP for the detection of Cervix cancer was 90% - 94%. In endometrial cancer the sensitivity of tumor markers combined CA19-9, CA125, leptin, thymidine kinase, CEA, CA15-3, and HE4 in endometrial cancer detection was 95% and specificity 96%. The highest sensitivity was for CA125 (99.7%) while the highest specificity was for CA19-9 (95.7%) which revealed that the efficacy of CA19-9 was more than that of CA125. The positive predictive value by combination of CA19-9, CA-125 levels, HE4, CA15-3, leptin, thymidine kinase and CEA for the detection of Endometrial cancer was 93%. For Gynecological malignancies namely Ovarian, Cervix and Endometrial cancers screening with these novel tumor markers in combination which are significant to a particular group of cancers.

Prognostic markers for immunochemotherapy using tegafur -uracil (UFT) and protein-bound polysaccharide K (PSK).

We previously reported that PSK-induced lymphocyte blastogenesis reaction (PSK-stimulation index; PSK-SI) may be a prognostic marker for immunochemotherapy using PSK in gastrointestinal cancer patients. In this study we evaluated the usefulness of PSK-SI as a prognostic marker for PSK therapy at higher and lower serum immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) levels. 98 gastric and 135 colorectal cancer patients were analyzed. PSK-SI and serum IAP levels were measured preoperatively. After operation, patients received UFT and PSK for two years. There were no differences between patients with higher and those with lower PSK-SI with respect to the clinicopathological factors. In patients with higher serum IAP levels (> or = 500 microg/ml), recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were apparently more favorable in the higher PSK-SI group (gastric cancer; > or = 1.75, colorectal cancer; > or = 2.1) than in lower PSK-SI group, although the differences were not significant. Serum IAP levels and PSK-SI may be useful markers for prediction of response to immunochemotherapy using PSK, although further studies are necessary.

Depression in older patients with advanced colorectal cancer is closely connected with immunosuppressive acidic protein

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common tumors. CRC patients are susceptible to suffering from depression. Whether the immune system of CRC patients with depression is impaired or stimulated is controversial. Possible reasons for this conflict are the involvement of confounding factors, such as the age of the patient, the stage of the CRC and the types of treatment in previous studies. To demonstrate clearly the relationship between depression and the immune system in the context of CRC, the present study included only older patients with advanced CRC who received only chemotherapy, and the study adopted immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) as an immune parameter for the first time. A total of 56 older patients with advanced CRC completed the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and were divided into two groups according to SDS scores. The patients exhibiting depression were treated with fluoxetine until their symptoms remitted. The serum levels of IAP and the percentages of CD3-positive (CD3+), CD4+, CD8+ T lymphocytes and CD56+ natural killer (NK) cells and Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were calculated at the time of enrollment and once the symptoms remitted. Correlation analyses revealed that the SDS score was positively associated with serum IAP levels but negatively associated with CD3 and CD4 levels. Among the depressed and non-depressed patients, serum IAP levels and the percentages of CD3 and CD4 cells were dramatically different. After the depression symptoms were treated, the IAP levels dramatically decreased, while the levels of CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD56 were unchanged. All of above suggested that IAP was closely correlated with depression and might be a relatively objective parameter for predicting depression.

Squamous cell carcinoma antigen in cervical cancer and beyond

See accompanying articles by Kawaguchi, Shimura and colleagues on pages 313 and 321. Serum tumor markers can have several roles in many aspects of cancer management including early detection or diagnostic confirmation of cancers, predicting prognosis and/or response of specific treatment, and disease monitoring after primary treatment. Because the most of tumor markers have showed variable sensitivity and specificity in various conditions of specific cancers, there has been no ideal tumor marker in current clinical practice in oncology and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag) in squamous cell carcinoma of cervix (SCC) is not exceptional. Since SCC-Ag, which can be produced through squamous formation of the uterine cervix and increased during the neoplastic transformation of the cervical squamous epithelium, was discovered in 1997 [1,2], many researches have been performed to investigate the role of serum SCC-Ag in SCC. However the clinical implementation of serum SCC-Ag is still controversial. Serum SCC-Ag levels are elevated in 28%-88% of patients with SCC [3]. In early stage of SCC, higher levels of serum SCC-Ag is associated with the pathological risk factors for recurrence such as lymph node metastasis, deep stromal tumor invasion, lymph-vascular space invasion, and larger size of primary tumor in cervix. For example, the positive predictive value for lymph node metastases at >2, >4, and >8.6 ng/mL SCC-Ag is 51.4%, 70.0%, and 100% but the level of SCC-Ag itself was not an independent risk factor for recurrence [4]. On the contrary SCC-Ag level before treatment was reported to be independent risk factors for disease free survival and/or overall survival at multivariate analysis in other studies [5,6]. In a cohort study of 337 patients with IB1-IIA who were surgically treated, it was suggested that serum SCC-Ag level before surgery allows more refined preoperative estimation of the likelihood for adjuvant radiotherapy than pathological risk factors for recurrence representing clinical relevance of serum SCC-Ag in early stage SCC [7]. In locally advanced SCC, pre- and postradiotherapy serum SCC-Ag levels showed the prognostic significance. Hong et al. reported that pretreatment SCC-Ag levels higher than 10 ng/mL are an independent predictor for poor prognosis and persistently elevated SCC-Ag level at 2-3 months after radiotherapy had a significantly higher incidence of treatment failure in their large cohort [8]. In a Japanese study, the SCC-Ag level cut-off point for three-year overall survival rates, calculated using a receiver operating characteristic curve, was 1.15 ng/mL with the sensitivity of 80.0% and specificity of 74.0% [9]. In a retrospective study of 788 patients with SCC, clinical significance as a prognostic marker for progression free and/or overall survival was higher in locally advanced SCC than in early stage SCC [10]. Increasing serum SCC-Ag can precede the clinical diagnosis of relapse in 46%-92% of cases, with a median lead time ranging from 2 to 8 months [3]. However, there is still no strong evidence that the earlier intervention due to early detection of relapse is associated with better survival in recurrent SCC. In a previous study, serum SCC-Ag analysis results in earlier recurrence detection in a small proportion (14%) of patients but did not contribute to better survival [11]. On the other hand, another study reported that salvage treatment with radiotherapy or surgery resulted in improved survival compared with chemotherapy or palliative care in patients with serum SCC-Ag levels of less than <14.0 ng/mL at the time of recurrence [12]. With the limitation of serum SCC-Ag as an ideal biomarker for SCC, other biomarkers such as CYFRA 21-1, immunosuppressive acidic protein, and vascular endothelial growth factor in patients' serum have been investigated but the results were modest or are still investigating [13]. And more recently there have been developments in the use of molecular imaging technology in oncological applications and the use of magnetic resonance imaging or positron emission tomography with or without combination of biomarkers in the management of cervical cancer [14]. In conclusion, serum SCC-Ag is a commonly used and may be the most promising biomarkers in patients with SCC until now. However, clinical relevance of serum SCC-Ag in SCC is still on debate and there should be more researches investigating the clinical application of SCC-Ag and developing new biomarkers in SCC in the future.

等電点電気泳動法による免疫抑制酸性蛋自 (IAP) の分析

等電点電気泳動法による免疫抑制酸性蛋自 (IAP) の分析

Efficacy and Safety of Orally Administered Lentinula edodes Mycelia Extract for Patients Undergoing Cancer Chemotherapy: A Pilot Study

Lentinula edodes mycelia extract (L.E.M.) is extensively utilized as an herbal medicine. However, its safety and effectiveness have not yet been scientifically verified. In this study, we investigated its safety and its influence on quality of life (QOL) and the immune response in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy. Seven patients were studied in total. The patients were undergoing postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer (n = 3) or gastrointestinal cancer (n = 2), or were receiving chemotherapy to prevent recurrence of gastrointestinal cancer (n = 2). The first course of treatment was chemotherapy alone and the second was chemotherapy plus concomitant administration of L.E.M. Adverse events and changes in the QOL score, lymphocyte subpopulations, lymphocyte activity and serum immune indices were evaluated during the study period. No adverse events attributable to L.E.M. were observed. Compared to the pre-chemotherapy state, no changes in QOL or immune parameters were noted after the first chemotherapy course. In contrast, following the second course of combined therapy, improvements were noted in QOL (p < 0.05), NK cell activity (p < 0.05) and immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) (p < 0.01) levels. Although a future large-scale investigation is necessary to confirm these results, these data suggest that the concomitant of L.E.M. with chemotherapy is safe and improves the QOL and immune function of patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Quantitation of immunosuppressive acidic protein and carcinoembryonic antigen in sputum from patients with various respiratory diseases

Quantitation of immunosuppressive acidic protein and carcinoembryonic antigen in sputum from patients with various respiratory diseases

Ultrasonographic analysis of splenomegaly in patients with sarcoidosis

Thirty seven patients with sarcoidosis were examined using ultrasound (US) to determine the size of the spleen. A Spleen Index (SI) was employed to evaluate splenomegaly and the SI was calculated using long (a) and short (b) dimensions on the sectional splenotomogram (SI = a x b). In 21 (57%) of these patients the spleen was judged ultrasonographically to be enlarged (SI 30), but in only 3 was it palpable. The clinical records of patients with and without splenomegaly detected by US were compared. There were no differences between patients with or without splenomegaly in hematologic findings (peripheral blood and bone marrow) or blood chemistry; furthermore no patients with hypersplenism were seen. In immunological parameters, the serum immunosuppressive acid protein level was significantly (p less than 0.05) higher in patients with splenomegaly than in those without splenomegaly; however, there were no differences in serum angiotenins converting enzyme activity, serum lysozyme level, PPD skin test or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid analysis. The patients with splenomegaly had significantly higher evidence of increased uptake of 67-Gallium in lung fields and positive lung infiltrates in chest X-ray than those without splenomegaly (p less than 0.01, p less than 0.05). These data suggest that ultrasound is a promising diagnostic tool for the assessment of the size of the spleen and is useful to detect disease activity and extent of disease in sarcoidosis. Patients with sarcoidosis who had splenomegaly had more disseminated disease, especially pulmonary parenchymal disease, than did those without splenomegaly.

Efficacy of FOLFOX4 in patients with hypoalbuminemia or immune impairment

e15141 Background: The effects of chemotherapeutic agents are understood to be regulated by many factors including tumor factors such as sensitivity to drugs and host factors. Among these host factors, nutritional conditions and immune function of cancer-bearing host has been told to relate the effects of chemotherapy, however, it has not been clarified yet. Methods: We have analysed the relationships between the effects of FOLFOX4 and nutritional markers such as serum albumin concentrations and immunology markers including counts of lymphocytes and neutrophils, the ratios of these counts G/L: granulocytes/lymphocytes) and serum concentrations of immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) in the patients with disseminated colorectal cancer who have received FOLFOX4. All these blood examinations were performed before the first administration of FOLFOX4 as a first line chemotherapy in 18 patients with disseminated colorectal cancer. Results: Firstly serum albumin levels have shown significant correlation to lymphocyte counts and did inverse correlation to neutrophil counts and G/L ratios. The albumin levels in the patients with PD of FOLFOX outcome was significantly lower than in the patients with PR(p&lt;0.05) and SD (p&lt;0.05). The lymphocytes counts in the patients with PD were significantly lower than in those with PR (p&lt;0.05) and SD (p&lt;0.05). Neutrophil counts, on the other hand, was significantly higher in the patients with PD than in those with PR (p&lt;0.01) and SD (p&lt;0.05). IAP, have been recognized as a marker of immune-suppression in patients with cancer was higher in the patients with PD. Conclusions: Thus the nutritional status is closely related to the immune status in patients with cancer, and the markers of these conditions may present important informations in prediction of results of cancer chemotherapy. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

Immune responses and serum levels of cytokines in adult T-cell leukemia patients and human T-cell leukemia virus type-I carriers.

To find predictive parameters for development and progression of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) in human T-cell leukemia virus type-I (HTLV-I) carriers, we investigated cellular immune responses such as mitogenic responses and natural killer activity of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). And serum or plasma levels of cytokines, including tumor-necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP), were also measured in patients with ATL, healthy HTLV-I carriers and healthy HTLV-I non-carriers as controls. Results are as follows: (1) increased spontaneous proliferation and decreased mitogenic responses of PBMC already existed in HTLV-I carriers; (2) IAP was significantly higher in patients with acute/lymphoma type ATL than in those with chronic/smoldering type, HTLV-I carriers and HTLV-I non-carriers. These results suggest that spontaneous proliferation or mitogenic responses and IAP may be useful parameters for the development and progression of ATL from the carriers. Since HTLV-I carriers already have various grades of immunosuppression, we should seriously try to prevent further HTLV-I transmission.

A Case of Lithium-Associated Painless Thyroiditis

Lithium, prescribed for bipolar disorder, is known to induce thyroid dysfunction, most commonly hypothyroidism. Thyrotoxicosis due to lithium-induced painless thyroiditis is a rare complication. We have previously reported that the serum concentration of immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP), an α1-acid glycoprotein, increased during the acute phase of subacute thyroiditis, but was within the normal range in patients with painless thyroiditis. In the present case, a 31-year-old woman, receiving long-term lithium therapy for bipolar disorder, had a recurrent episode of painless thyroiditis, and her serum IAP was increased. The pathogenic mechanism for lithium-associated painless thyroiditis may differ from that of autoimmune conditions.

Prognostic role of immunosuppressive acidic protein in patients with esophageal cancer

Immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) suppresses several immune responses in vivo and in vitro , and high preoperative IAP levels could predict the impairment of the host's immunity. In this study prognostic significance of preoperative IAP levels was investigated in 68 esophageal cancer patients with curative resection and eight with non-curative resection. The curative group had significantly lower levels than the non-curative group (432 +/- 183 mg/mL vs. 739 +/- 235 mg/mL, P < 0.0001). The IAP levels were associated with T-status (P < 0.0001), lymphatic invasion (P < 0.05), and p-stages (P < 0.0001). When 5-year survival rate of patients with curative resection was compared by setting various cutoff values of IAP between high and low IAP groups, several cutoff points (400-580 mg/mL) were revealed to be significantly associated with survival. Setting cutoff value of IAP to 560 mg/mL resulted in a most significant difference of 5-year survival rate of patients between the high and low IAP groups (13.9% and 61.5%, P < 0.0001). These data indicate that pre-operative IAP level is a useful parameter to predict the prognosis of esophageal cancer patients after curative resection.

How do symptoms have an impact on the prognosis of renal cell carcinoma?

Symptomatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is well known to have a characteristic behavior. We therefore evaluated the impact of systemic symptoms on the prognosis of RCC. Patard's criteria were used to classify symptoms before operation into three groups defined as: S1 (incidental tumor), S2 (localized symptoms) and S3 (systemic symptoms). Selected clinicopathological factors including gender, maximum tumor diameter, clinical stage, hemoglobin, C-reactive protein (CRP) and immunosuppressive acidic protein, nuclear grade and venous invasion were measured preoperatively in 252 patients. To determine impacts of them on the prognosis of RCC, we compared quantitative results using Cox multivariate analysis. The cancer-specific five-year survival rates were 93.1%, 71.0%, and 20.2% for S1 (144 patients), S2 (80 patients) and S3 (28 patients), respectively (P < 0.0001). By the univariate analysis, S2 and S3 were significant prognostic factors (risk ratio 4.5, P = 0.0003, risk ratio 19.15, P < 0.0001, respectively). By the multivariate analysis limited to preoperative clinical characteristics, S3 and CRP were independent factors (risk ratio 7.05, P = 0.0006, risk ratio 3.53, P = 0.0052, respectively). When pathological factors as well as preoperative clinical features were included on multivariate analysis, S3 and CRP remained to be independent predictive factors (risk ratio 6.01, P = 0.0031, risk ratio 2.64, P = 0.0040, respectively). Among pathological factors, only nuclear grade was a significant prognostic factor (risk ratio 2.92, P = 0.013). The presence of systemic symptoms is an independent prognostic factor along with nuclear grade and CRP.

M1542 Serum Immunosuppressive Acidic Protein Levels in Patients with Severe Acute Pancreatitis

M1542 Serum Immunosuppressive Acidic Protein Levels in Patients with Severe Acute Pancreatitis

Serum immunosuppressive acidic protein reflects systemic deterioration of colorectal cancer patient condition

Immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) is a potent biological marker for immunological surveillance in patients with malignant tumors. This study aimed to investigate the significance of serum IAP as an index of disease status, clinicopathological findings and prognosis in colorectal cancer. A total of 101 patients with colorectal cancer and 80 normal volunteers were included in this retrospective trial. Preoperative serum IAP was assayed using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. The serum IAP level in the patients, which was not associated with clinicopathological features except for tumor size, was significantly higher than that in controls. The serum IAP level was closely correlated with percent body weight loss, serum albumin and cholinesterase, and percentage of circulating lymphocytes reflecting the host's nutritional and immunological conditions. Interestingly, these parameters were not associated with factors reflecting disease progression except for tumor size. The prognosis of patients with higher IAP levels was significantly worse than that of patients with lower IAP levels. Furthermore, an elevated serum IAP level was an independent prognostic marker in all patients. The preoperative serum IAP level may reflect the general condition of colorectal cancer patients, and thus may predict long-term survival independently of stage progression.

Relationship between depression and serum immunosuppressive acidic protein, subpopulation of T lymphocytes and natural killer cells in cancer patients

Relationship between depression and serum immunosuppressive acidic protein, subpopulation of T lymphocytes and natural killer cells in cancer patients

Cell transfer regimens in patients with highly advanced surgically unresectable non-small cell lung cancer: Significantly improved overall survival in patients with lower levels of serum immunosuppressive acidic protein

Sixty-one non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with stage II and III/IV were enrolled and 49 completed immunotherapy. Patients were grouped based on immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP). All patients received monthly intravenous infusions containing 1 x 10(10) (mean cell number per patient) ex vivo expanded and IFN-alpha-treated peripheral blood mononuclear cells. No patients had grade 2 or greater adverse events. The patients with < or = 580microg/ml of serum IAP levels (n=33) had significantly longer recurrence-free survival than those with > 580microg/ml of serum IAP levels (n=16). Patients with lower IAP levels are still under immunotherapeutic control after 27 months free of recurrence. The IAP levels may be a prognostic marker for treatment efficacy in NSCLC. This immunotherapeutic regimen was feasible and well tolerated in patients with advanced NSCLC in terms of prolongation of survival.