Efficacy Of Cytokine-induced Killer Cells On Castrate-resistant Prostate Cancer

AbstractObjective: To investigate the short-term clinical efficacy of cytokine-induced killer cells(CIKs) against castrate-resistant prostate cancer(CRPC) patients.Methods:Nine patients with CRPC were enrolled from the Department of Urology of The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs) were separated, and the un-adherent cells of PBMCs were induced into CIK by IL-1, IL-2, IFN-γ and CD3 monoclonal antibody, and were injected intravenously. Prostate specific antigen(PSA) was determined before and retested one month after treatment, additionally, the sleep quality、appetite、strength and ostealgia before and after treatment were compared to evaluate the short-term efficacy.The safety of CIK was evaluated by observing treatment side effects of the course and the change of hematopoiesis, liver and renal function.Results:The PSA was decreased after CIK therapy(P<0.05). Evaluate the short-term efficacy of 9 patients, the PSA was decreased in different degrees in 7 patients during the treatment. The 6 patients who had one course of treatment, 2 PR,3 SD, and 1 PD; the 2 patients who had 2 courses of treatment, one was PR after each course, the other one was SD after the first course but PD after the second course; there was 1 patient who had 4 courses of treatment, he was SD after every course. 5/9 patients had better sleep, 3/9 patients improved the appetite, 4/9 patients increased the physical energy, ostealgia wasrelieved in 2/5 patients. CIK treatment was well tolerated in 9 CRPC patients. Mild fever was occurred in one patient, recovered after hormonotherapy, and no severe adverse reaction was observed in other patients. There was no significant change of the WBC, ALT, AST and Cr-S before and after treatment.Conclusions: CIK therapy can elicit specific immune responses in CRPC patients, and decrease the level of PSA with well short-term clinical efficacybut few side effects. Besides, it has no damage to hematopoiesis, liver and renal function, indicating that CIK therapy is a safe and effective treatment for CRPC.