Cytokines Cancer Vaccine Treatment

What are Cytokines?

Cytokines are the messengers of the immune system-they are sometimes called immune hormones. They can act either locally or at a distance. Cytokines can either enhance or suppress immunity. In cancer treatment they are generally used to enhance immunity.

Two cytokines, interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-alfa 2b are approved by the FDA for use against certain cancers. IL-2 is used to treat renal cell carcinoma, melanoma, lymphoma, and leukemia. Interferon has been useful against those diseases and Kaposi's sarcoma, chronic myelogenous leukemia, and hairy cell leukemia.

The response rate of individual cytokines is generally low. Cytokines are produced by white blood cells in combinations-in nature they work together. Studies using combined cytokines-in the ratios they are produced naturally have shown that the combinations have synergistic effects. For instance, IL-2 is used to stimulate certain white blood cells to divide. When used alone, a very high dose of IL-2 is required to make the cells divide. High doses of IL-2 can cause serious negative side effects. When a natural combination of cytokines produced by white blood cells is used, the dose of IL-2 can be lowered by a factor of 5000 producing minimal side effects. This is one of the combinations of cytokines used at ITL Cancer Clinic.

These combinations of cytokines can also be used to enhance the effects of a vaccine designed to stimulate the immune system to mount a cancer cell specific immune response. Heat shock protein vaccines and dendritic cell vaccines can both be enhanced when given with natural cytokine mixtures.