Cultured Human Antitumour T Cells and their Potential for Therapy

Over the past two decades, the availability of increasingly effective chemotherapeutic regimens has led to the cure of a large proportion of patients with Hodgkins disease, some non-Hodgkins lymphomas, childhood leukaemias and solid tumours, choriocarcinomas and teratocarcinomas. Progress has been much slower with the common solid tumour e.g. those of the lung, breast and gastrointestinal tract. In breast cancer for instance remissions occur in 50–70% of patients given chemotherapy and in 10–20% of these the remissions are apparently complete in that no residual tumour can be detected by conventional techniques. However, in the majority of patients in complete remission the tumour eventually regrows and kills the host. Thus in these common solid tumours chemotherapy may reduce the bulk of the disease but not eradicate it. The development of new cytotoxic agents and more effective scheduling may improve the cure rate but the addition of an alternative modality of treatment such as immunotherapy at the time the total tumour burden is low, possibly immediately after surgery, has long been an attractive approach.