| Due to the inherent chemoresistance of some cancer types, for example renal cell carcinomas (RCC), treatment approaches using cytotoxic drugs ultimately fail. This necessitates the search for alternative therapy. Immunotherapy agents like Interferon and Interleukin-2 (IL-2) have activity in some patients but are not curative. Thus, strategies to improve immunotherapy (IT) are needed. One approach is to use chemotherapy (CTX) to enhance IT. This could come about by exploiting immuno-modulatory effects of specific cancer drugs. Alternatively, CTX could be used to "sensitize" tumor cells to lytic effects of immune cells. The current investigation tested the hypothesis that tumor cells exposed to CTX will exhibit increased sensitivity to lysis by lymphokine activated killer (LAK) cells and investigated possible candidate genes involved in the molecular mechanisms responsible for the observed effect. |
