Influence of interferon alfa-2c on the kinetics of spontaneous cell-mediated cytotoxicity in urothelial carcinoma in vivo and in vitro.

It was demonstrated that patients with superficial bladder cancer displayed a raised spontaneous cell-mediated cytotoxicity (SCMC) compared to patients with advanced bladder cancer and healthy control subjects. By use of recombinant interferon alfa-2c, the activity of the spontaneous cell-mediated cytotoxicity at the level of the individual cell could be increased both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, this was the case in patients with superficial bladder cancer as well as in patients with advanced bladder carcinoma, and in healthy control subjects. The kinetics of cytolysis were not affected by recombinant human interferon (rHu IFN) alfa-2c. After in-vivo application of rHu IFN, there was an elevation of the target binding cells (TBC) and the number of active natural killer (NK) cells within 24 h, but this was only detected for a brief period of time.