High intensity focused ultrasound combined with dendritic cell and cytokine-induced killer cell immunotherapy for treating pancreatic cancer / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To elucidate the immunologic mechanism and clinical effect of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) combined with dendritic cell and cytokine induced killer cell (DC-CIK) immunotherapy on patients with pancreatic cancer.Methods Seventy-two pancreatic cancer patients were divided randomly into 2 equal groups,one treated with HIFU only the other treated with HIFU and DC-CIK immunotherapy.Ultrasound imaging and a variety of immunological indexes were recorded before and after treatment and the clinical effects in the two groups were compared.Moreover,autogenous tumor cells were isolated from the combination therapy group and the killing activity of DC-CIK which loaded tumor antigen processed by HIFU on autogenous tumor cells was observed.Results Tumor antigen processed by HIFU can improve the killing activity of DC-CIK on autogenous tumor cells.After treatment,the immunological indexes,of all patients were better than before treatment.(58.26 ± 17.97 versus 52.15 ± 14.22 pg/ml with IL-12 22.14 ± 6.39 versus 17.36 ± 5.73 ng/ml with HSP70 and 0.94 ± O.34 versus 1.32 ± O.61 ng/ml with TGF-β,P ＜ 0.05 ) ; The combination group was significantly better than the HIFU group with regard to the average scores of quality of life (75.89 ± 19.65 versus 67.22 ± 16.34,P＜0.05),pain (3.15 ±0.82 versus 3.59 ± 1.04,P ＜0.05),tumor markers (107.55 ±27.58 versus 123.63 ±34.12 U/ml) and survival time (18.92±6.47 versus 13.36 ±5.78 mos).Conclusion HIFU can improve the immunologic status and anti-tumor response in patients with pancreatic cancer.HIFU combined with DC-CIK has good synergistic therapeutic effect for treating pancreatic cancer.