Effect of dendritic cell-cytokine-induced killer cells in patients with advanced colorectal cancer combined with first-line treatment

Yunqing Xie, Lijie Huang, Luchuan Chen, Xiaowei Lin, Li Chen, Qiuhong Zheng, Yunqing Xie, Lijie Huang, Luchuan Chen, Xiaowei Lin, Li Chen, Qiuhong Zheng

Abstract

Background: Surgical resection combined with adjuvant chemotherapy is considered as the gold-standard treatment for advanced colorectal cancer patients. These patients have a poor 5-year survival rate of 5% or less. Furthermore, a large dose of chemotherapy can produce adverse side effects and severe toxicity. Therefore, this retrospective study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of dendritic cell-cytokine-induced killer (DC-CIK) cell infusion as an adjuvant therapy in patients with advanced colorectal cancer combined with first-line treatment.

Methods: A total of 142 patients with stage III/IV colorectal carcinoma who had been treated with first-line therapy were included in this study. Among these patients, 71 patients received first-line treatment only (non-DC-CIK group), while the other 71 patients who had similar demographic and clinical characteristics received a DC-CIK cell infusion combined with first-line treatment (DC-CIK group). These patients were followed up until August 2014. Data were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression.

Results: Our results showed that the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate for the DC-CIK group versus the non-DC-CIK group was 41.3 versus 19.4% (p = 0.001) and the 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate for the DC-CIK group versus the non-DC-CIK group was 57.4 versus 33.6% (p = 0.022).

Conclusions: Our results showed that patients with advanced colorectal cancer might benefit from DC-CIK immunotherapy combined with first-line therapy by significantly prolonging 5-year OS and PFS.

Keywords: Adjuvant immunotherapy; Colorectal cancer; Cytokine-induced killer cells; Dendritic cells.

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the ethics committee of Fujian Medical University cancer Hospital and was carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association. All enrolled patients provided written informed consent.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Illustration of the DC-CIK cell treatment protocol
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan-Meier estimate for progression-free survival (PFS) of patients
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Kaplan-Meier estimate for overall survival (OS) of patients

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