Antiproliferative effects of natural human tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interferon-alpha, and interferon-gamma on human pancreatic carcinoma cell lines.

The antiproliferative effects of natural human tumor necrosis factor-alpha (nHuTNF-alpha), natural human interferon-alpha (nHuIFN-alpha), and natural human interferon-gamma (nHuIFN-gamma) were investigated in human pancreatic carcinoma cell lines. HuP-T3, HuP-T4, and BxPC-3 carcinoma cells exhibited mild growth inhibition after treatment with nHuTNF-alpha. HuP-T3, HuP-T4, MIA-PaCa-2, and BxPC-3 cells exhibited mild or marked growth inhibition after treatment with nHuIFN-alpha. Incubation with nHuIFN-gamma caused marked growth inhibition of HuP-T4 and BxPC-3 cells, whereas HuP-T1, HuP-T3, and MIA-PaCa-2 cells showed only mild growth inhibition with the same dose of nHuIFN-gamma. Combined nHuTNF-alpha and nHuIFN-alpha (1:1) demonstrated marked synergism in comparison with their effects as single agents on HuP-T1, HuP-T3, and MIA-PaCa-2 cells. The combination of nHuTNF-alpha and nHuIFN-gamma (100:1) also demonstrated a marked synergistic effect in comparison with these cytokines alone in four out of five pancreatic carcinoma cell lines (HuP-T1, HuP-T3, HuP-T4, and MIA-PaCa-2 cell lines). The marked increase in efficacy brought about by using combinations of cytokines may enable some improvement in the treatment of pancreatic carcinoma patients in the future.