Abstract:
Objective To investigate whether the patients suffering from advanced malignancy with expected survival time less than 3 months will benefit from DC-CIK immunotherapeutic treatments. Methods Thirteen eligible patients with ECOG performance greater than 3 and expected survival time less than 3 months, were treated with DC-CIK immunotherapy. The level of peripheral blood T lymphocytes subsets were measured before and after DC-CIK infusions. The primary observations were the changes in ECOG performance, overall survival and adverse reactions. Results The levels of CD3+T cells were increased and CD8+CD28- T cells were reduced in two months after the last DC-CIK treatment, with statistical signifi cance. Through the DC-DIK treatment, the ECOG performance improved in 11 patients and overall survival of the 11 patients was prolonged for 3 months. And there were 7 patients still alive at the end of follow-up (already more than 6 months). No severe adverse reactions occurred. Conclusion DC-CIK immunotherapy is effective and safe for advanced cancer patients with expected survival less than 3 months.