Toxicity of immunotherapy with interleukin-2 and lymphokine-activated killer cells.

Immunotherapy with IL-2 represents a major breakthrough in the management of renal cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. At present, the toxicity of most IL-2 regimens is severe and prohibitive for clinicians not intimately familiar with the myriad of side effects associated with its use. The elucidation of the mechanism by which the lymphokine induces tumor regression, the vascular leak syndrome and other side effects will permit IL-2 to be used more safely and effectively.