Scientists announce advance in immunotherapy

Scientists announce advance in immunotherapy.

A new study shows that a small protein called interleukin-7 (IL-7) can stimulate the nervous system and increase production of high quality immune responses in the body. The study was released by researchers at the National Cancer Insitute, a subsection of the National Institutes of Health. This finding may have a huge impact on a number of clinical applications. It was published online in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

"Our results are only a first step in a long process," said the study's lead author, Claude Sportès, M.D., of NCI's Center for Cancer Research. "Potential clinical applications need to be tested systematically in order to define the field of clinical application for the drug."

Aggressive therapies like chemotherapy and autoimmune diseases such as HIV deplete the body's lymphocytes, and reduce immune function. Also, as people get older (typically between 45 and 50 years old) they lose the ability to regenerate T lymphocytes. This is because of decreased function in the thymus, which comes with age.

Application of IL-7 was explored by administering a lab-created dose of IL-7 to 15 cancer patients suffering from solid tumors, each of whom had not responded to more standard treatment. The patients ranged from 20 to 71 years old, and received eight doses of IL-7 subcutaneously.

In the patients, the number of CD4+ T cells was increased by around 300 percent, and the number of CD8+ T cells increased by over 400 percent.

"These findings may lead to a large number of clinical applications for IL-7," said Sportès. "For example, there might be therapeutic applications in immune-compromised individuals, such as in cancer or HIV-infected patients, to boost lymphocyte counts and immune responses. It might also be used to enhance immune responses to conventional vaccines, particularly in older individuals, as well as responses to cancer vaccines or other forms of cancer immunotherapy."

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