Adoptive Immunotherapy for Small Cell Lung Cancer by Expanded Activated Autologous Lymphocytes: a Retrospective Clinical Analysis

Background: To investigate the clinical efficacy of expanded activated autologous lymphocytes (EAAL) in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Materials and Methods: A total of 32 SCLC patients were selected and randomly divided into EAAL treatment and control groups, 16 cases in each. EAAL were obtained by proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients followed by phenotype determination. Clinical data of all patients were recorded. Patients of both groups were followed up and the overall survival (OS) were compared retrospectively. Results: After culture and proliferation in vitro, the percentages of CD3 + , CD3 + CD8 + , CD45RO + , CD28 + , CD29 + , CD8 + CD28 + and CD3+CD16+/CD56+ cells increased markedly (p 0.05). COX multivariate regression analysis showed that the number of chemotherapy cycles and the application of EAAL immunotherapy were independent prognostic factors for SCLC patients. The OS in females and chemotherapy≤6 cycles were obviously prolonged after EAAL immunotherapy. Conclusions: In vitro induction and proliferation of EAAL is easy and biologically safe. Generally, EAAL adoptive immunotherapy can evidently prolong the OS of SCLC patients.