Ying Mu1, Chang-Hui Zhou2, Shuang-Feng Chen2, Jie Ding2, Ying-Xin Zhang2, Ya-Pei Yang2, Wei-Hua Wang3. 1. Department of Gastroenterology, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng Clinical School, Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong Province, China. 2. Department of Central Laboratory, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng Clinical School, Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong Province, China. 3. Department of Central Laboratory, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng Clinical School, Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong Province, China. Electronic address: wangweihualc@163.com.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Currently, cytokine-induced killer cells (CIK)/dendritic cell (DC)-CIK-mediated immunotherapy is widely used to treat gastric cancer. However, limited information regarding clinical trials on CIK/DC-CIK therapy is available. Therefore, systemic evaluation of the efficacy and safety of the combination therapy is necessary. METHODS: A meta-analysis involving 1735 patients with gastric cancer was conducted. Before analysis, the study quality and heterogeneity were evaluated. The effects of chemotherapy combined with CIK/DC-CIK on gastric cancer were compared with the effects observed when chemotherapy alone was used. Pooled analysis was performed using RevMan version 5.2 from random or fixed-effect models. RESULTS: Seventeen trials were included. First, the analysis showed that the combination therapy significantly increased the overall survival rate and disease-free survival rate compared with those in patients treated using chemotherapy alone. The overall response rate (P = 0.002), disease control rate (P = 0.0007), and quality of life improved rate (P = 0.0008) were significantly improved in patients who received combined treatment than in patients who received chemotherapy alone. Second, the percentage of lymphocyte subsets (CD3(+), CD4(+) and CD3(-)CD56(+), CD3(+)CD56(+); P <0.01) and the levels of interleukin-12 and interferon-γ, which reflect immune function, were significantly increased (P <0.05) after the CIK/DC-CIK therapy. Further, carbohydrate antigen tumor markers were significantly reduced compared with the pre-therapy levels. Immunotherapy with CIK/DC-CIK obviously alleviated the adverse events caused by chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: The combination of CIK/DC-CIK therapy and chemotherapy was superior in prolonging the survival time, enhancing immune function and alleviating the adverse events caused by chemotherapy.
BACKGROUND: Currently, cytokine-induced killer cells (CIK)/dendritic cell (DC)-CIK-mediated immunotherapy is widely used to treat gastric cancer. However, limited information regarding clinical trials on CIK/DC-CIK therapy is available. Therefore, systemic evaluation of the efficacy and safety of the combination therapy is necessary. METHODS: A meta-analysis involving 1735 patients with gastric cancer was conducted. Before analysis, the study quality and heterogeneity were evaluated. The effects of chemotherapy combined with CIK/DC-CIK on gastric cancer were compared with the effects observed when chemotherapy alone was used. Pooled analysis was performed using RevMan version 5.2 from random or fixed-effect models. RESULTS: Seventeen trials were included. First, the analysis showed that the combination therapy significantly increased the overall survival rate and disease-free survival rate compared with those in patients treated using chemotherapy alone. The overall response rate (P = 0.002), disease control rate (P = 0.0007), and quality of life improved rate (P = 0.0008) were significantly improved in patients who received combined treatment than in patients who received chemotherapy alone. Second, the percentage of lymphocyte subsets (CD3(+), CD4(+) and CD3(-)CD56(+), CD3(+)CD56(+); P <0.01) and the levels of interleukin-12 and interferon-γ, which reflect immune function, were significantly increased (P <0.05) after the CIK/DC-CIK therapy. Further, carbohydrate antigen tumor markers were significantly reduced compared with the pre-therapy levels. Immunotherapy with CIK/DC-CIK obviously alleviated the adverse events caused by chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: The combination of CIK/DC-CIK therapy and chemotherapy was superior in prolonging the survival time, enhancing immune function and alleviating the adverse events caused by chemotherapy.