Treatment of malignant melanoma with interleukin-2

Abstract

Treatment of metastatic malignant melanoma with recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) represents one of the earliest attempts at systemic immunomodulation as a therapy for cancer. Initial reports showed objective response rates with single-agent rIL-2 therapy in the range of 15% to 20% with some durable responses; however, the overall response rates were lower than originally anticipated. In addition, in contrast to animal models, it appears that coadministration of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells, generated ex vivo with rIL-2, does not enhance the response rates achieved with single-agent rIL-2. Despite a multitude of studies with various rIL-2 regimens, with and without coadministration of LAK cells or tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, the optimum dose and treatment schedule for rIL-2-based therapy in metastatic melanoma remains a topic of controversy. To date, there are also no clear immunologic parameters that can predict biologic response to rIL-2-based therapy.