Analytical study of the clinical response to two distinct adoptive immunotherapies for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison between LAK cell and CTL therapy.

To evaluate the effect of two distinct adoptive immunotherapies, tumor-specific cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) therapy and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell therapy, the clinical responses of patients with stage IV primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with these therapies were studied. Of 18 patients treated with CTL, 3 had complete regression (CR), 2 had partial regression, and 3 had minor regression (MR). Their median survival was 21 months after the end of therapy, and 1 CR patient survived for > 6 years. On the other hand, in the LAK-cell-treated group of eight patients, four had MR and their median survival was only 2 months. No survival was observed 27 months after the end of LAK cell therapy. These results indicate that tumor-specific CTL therapy is more effective than LAK cell therapy and that it might be a promising therapeutic tool for advanced HCC patients.