Word: interleukins
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Rosenberg's strategy, devised with the help of Anderson, is to extract immune cells called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from the tumors of melanoma patients. Rosenberg bathes the TILs in a solution of interleukin-2, a natural substance that invigorates them, and then exposes the TILs to re- engineered mouse leukemia retroviruses...
Just three years ago, Interleukin-2 was hailed as a breakthrough treatment for kidney cancer. Cetus, the California biotechnology company that developed the drug, hoped it would become the firm's first real moneymaker. That hope was dashed last week when the Food and Drug Administration declined to give the drug approval for widespread use until more thorough research is conducted. While IL-2 shrinks tumors in some patients, researchers contend that the drug can also trigger cardiac arrest and other serious complications. Cetus last month suspended clinical trials of IL-2 as a treatment for high blood pressure when...
...Rosenberg technique, used in dozens of U.S. cancer centers, is to extract some of a patient's white blood cells and bathe them in interleukin-2, a hormone that stimulates them, turning them into lymphokine-activated killer, or LAK, cells. Injected back into the bloodstream along with repeated doses of interleukin-2, they attack any foreign cells (including malignant ones) with great vigor. The technique has caused tumors to shrink significantly in a number of advanced melanoma patients and has apparently even effected an occasional cure...
This limited test is only the beginning. The NIH researchers and others elsewhere are planning to transplant genes that could actually help people fight cancer and other diseases. For example, scientists hope to give patients genes that will enable their bodies to mass-produce such anticancer agents as interleukin-2 and tumor necrosis factor. Anderson believes the day is not far off when it will be possible to transplant a gene containing instructions for the manufacture of CD4, a substance that combats the AIDS virus. Ultimately, researchers think they may be able to conquer some hereditary diseases by replacing defective...
...promising approach is the use of interleukin-2, one of the proteins called lymphokines, which are produced by the immune system. IL-2 is now being administered in various ways to stimulate the white blood cells that attack tumors. Expensive -- upwards of $80,000 for one course of treatment -- and dangerous, IL-2 is usually reserved for patients with advanced cancer. Amy Hance, 25, of Bloomington, Ill., reached that stage early this year. Melanoma, a deadly skin cancer, had spread to her liver, spleen, stomach and lungs. The determined Hance opted for experimental IL-2 therapy, even though side effects...