IMMUNOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF INTERLEUKIN-2 ADOPTIVE IMMUNOTHERAPY IN HUMANS - ACUTE INVITRO ANERGY, INVIVO ANTIBODY-RESPONSE TO TETANUS

In a previous study we evaluated the in vitro immunologic responses of 14 patients receiving immunotherapy with either interleukin-2 (IL-2; 3 x 106 units/m2) or IL-2 plus lymphokine activated killer (LAK) cells over a 45-day period. Blastogenic responses to mitogens or antigens were found to significantly decrease. Pokeweed mitogen immunoglobulin production decreased or showed no change. Multitest skin test response decreased during and after therapy. We concluded that, although natural killer and LAK activity are enhanced during therapy, in vitro blastogenic or immunoglobulin tests using mitogens or antigens for patients undergoing IL-2 immunotherapy have no predictive values and are depressed. In this study, we provide information that patients while receiving IL-2/interferon-α immunotherapy demonstrate as in the previous study in vitro reduced immunologic responses by at least 60%; however, in vivo, they had a normal immunoglobulin response to a tetanus booster. The disparity in results (in vitro versus in vivo) is unexplainable. Further analysis of other in vitro and/or in vivo tests is required to determine the effects IL-2 immunotherapy may have on the immune response status.