Hypothesis of the variable clinical response to immunotherapeutic treatments in colon cancer patients

In immunotherapeutic treatments it is not clear why their effectiveness is only limited to treatment of some neoplasms and patient kind. For the potential development of effective methods of cancer immunotherapy is important understanding the interaction with the immune system. In colon cancer we examined the sIL-2R, IL-2, IL-6 and TNF serum levels; the phenotype of PBMC and Tumor-draining limph node lymphocytes (LML); the proliferative response of PBMC to IL-2, and IL-2+anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody. The correlations with sIL-2R and stage were evaluated. The results are an explanation of the variable clinical response to immunotherapy: 1) if the disease progression is related to alterations in cellular responsive condition it is necessary to value that in every patient to choose the right treatment; moreover 2) because there is also a better condition of T activation response than NK cells, the therapeutic treatments can be successful only when adressed to potentiation of T cellular population and can exclude the immunosuppression effect which can prevent triggering and expansion of T lymphocytes in patients.