Session Speaker

Sentinel Node-Based Adoptive Immunotherapy of Colon Cancer
Per Marits, Mona Karlsson, Kjell Dahl, Tobias Dagöö, Sven Enerbäck, Magnus Thörn, Ola Winqvist
Sweden

The first tumour-draining lymph node ; the sentinel node can be identified by peritumoural injection of a tracer. This is the hypothesised location for the activation of tumour-reactive lymphocytes. Accordingly, proliferation and IFN-gamma production in response to the autologous tumour has been identified by our group in sentinel node-acquired lymphocytes from patients with colon and bladder cancer. The possibility of an adoptive immunotherapy approach based on this cell population was addressed in a proof-of-principle clinical trial. Lymphocytes were isolated from 16 patients with advanced or high-risk colon cancer. In vitro expansion with addition of autologous tumour extract and IL-2 mainly promoted the outgrowth of CD4+ Th1 lymphocytes, which were safely re-transfused to the patients. No side effect were observed. Four patients with stage IV tumours responded with complete tumour regressions. Some of the patients also received chemotherapy and this may have contributed to the favourable outcome in these cases. In conclusion, adoptive immunotherapy with sentinel node-acquired lymphocytes is feasible and appears to convey anti-tumor effects in humans without apparent side effects.