Abstract
Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) were obtained from 11 out of 31 head and neck carcinoma specimens (27 patients). TIL were cultured in medium containing recombinant interleukin 2 (IL-2). Also the peripheral blood lymphcytes (PBL) were obtained from same patients and cultured in IL-2. The cell proliferation, antitumor activity and phenotype of cultured TIL (lymphokine acitvated TIL, LA-TIL) and cultured PBL (lymphokine activated killer cells, LAK) were investigated.
TIL increased by 30-70 days after the initiation of culture ranged from 20.0-344.4-fold (average of 101.3-fold). It was larger than PBL.
LA-TIL had the higher cytotoxic activities, such as NK activity, LAK activity and autologous tumor cell cytotoxicity than LAK.
The vast majority of TIL were HLA-DR+ cells (activated T cells), and in some cases there were large numbers of CD8+ CD11- cells (cytotoxic T cells.).
The proliferation and antitumor activity of LATIL was suppressed by auto-serum from patients. It was suspected that there were suppressive factors against TIL in the serum of patients.
TIL had much proliferative potential and autologous tumor cell cytotoxicity than LAK. So, it was considered that TIL were useful for the adoptive immunotherapy.
