ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate immune-regulating effects of Ar-He targeted cryoablation for the treatment of the advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: One hundred NSCLC patients were enrolled in this study. The serum levels of IL-2, TNF-α and IL-12 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) before and 10 days after Ar-He targeted cryoablation. Low-density mononuclear cells (NINC) were separated by Ficoll-Hypaque as effector cells. Human lung cancer SPC-A1 and K562 cells were selected as target cells. The activities of natural killer (NK) cells and cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) were determined by MTT assay. Results: Of the 100 patients, 3 cases achieved complete remission (CR), 34 cases achieved > 50% remission (PR), 47 cases had stable disease (SD), and 16 cases had progressive disease (PD). The one-year survival rate was 43% and the median survival time to progression was 4 months. The non specific tumor-killing ability of NK cells increased by 83% and the specific tumor-killing activity of CTL increased by 67%. The serum levels of IL-2, TNF-α, and IL-12 were elevated significantly. The positive expression of CD3+ and CD4+ on T cells and the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ also increased. Conclusion: The effectiveness of Ar-He targeted cryoablation for the local treatment of NSCLC could be observed by imaging analysis. Ar-He targeted cryoablation regulates and stimulates self immunological function of NSCLC patients. Ar-He targeted cryoablation provides an effective method especially for old and surgery nontolerant patients.