In vitro activation of lymphocytes from nonsmall cell cancer patients by interleukin 2 and anti-CD3 antibody.

The current interest in adoptive immunotherapy of cancer has stimulated research into novel approaches of activating lymphocytes in vitro. We have studied the effect of anti-CD3 antibody on the in vitro activation of peripheral blood lymphocytes and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) taken from patients with nonsmall cell cancer of the lung (NSCC). We demonstrate that anti-CD3 substantially enhances the proliferative response and bulk culture growth of interleukin 2 (IL-2)-activated killer cells. The addition of anti-CD3 to IL-2-treated TIL enhances their cytotoxicity against fresh autologous NSCC tumor targets, but not against the cancer cell lines K562 and M14. The effectors generated by culture in IL-2 and anti-CD3 have greatly increased IL-2 receptor expression and are predominantly CD4+ cells. These results establish anti-CD3 as a potentially powerful agent in the in vitro activation of lymphocytes from cancer patients.