Publication Date:
2017-09-02
Description:
Purpose: Advanced pancreatic cancer has remained challenging to treat effectively. This study aimed to investigate the clinical effects and safety of immunotherapy with dendritic cells and cytokine-induced killer cells (DC-CIK) administered with the chemotherapy (CT) S-1 in this malignancy. Experimental Design: Consecutive patients ( n = 47) with advanced pancreatic cancer were treated with either DC-CIK + S-1, DC-CIK alone, S-1 alone, or best supportive care. Results: DC-CIK plus S-1 produced significantly longer median OS and PFS (212 and 136 days) compared with DC-CIK (128 and 85 days), CT (141 and 92 days), or supportive care only (52 and 43 days; P 〈 0.001). After adjusting for competing risk factors, DC-CIK combined with S-1 and receipt of 2 or more cycles of DC-CIK treatment remained independent predictors of disease-free and overall survival ( P 〈 0.05). Phenotypic analysis of PBMCs demonstrated that the CD3 + , CD3 + /CD4 + , and CD8 + /CD28 + T-cell subsets were elevated ( P 〈 0.05), while the CD3 + /CD8 + , CD3 + /CD16 + /CD56 + and CD4 + /CD25 + cell subsets were significantly decreased after DC-CIK cell therapy ( P 〈 0.05). There were no grade 3 or 4 toxicities. In addition, the mutational frequency in cell-free tumor DNA (cfDNA) declined in 4 of 14 patients who received DC-CIK, and was associated with a more favorable survival. Conclusions: Treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer with combined DC-CIK infusions and S-1 was safe, resulted in favorable PFS and OS, and modulated the peripheral blood immune repertoire. Clin Cancer Res; 23(17); 5066–73. ©2017 AACR .
Print ISSN:
1078-0432
Electronic ISSN:
1557-3265
Topics:
Medicine
