One of the most potent forms of immunotherapy for patients with metastatic melanoma and renal cell carcinoma is high-dose (HD) bolus IL-2 therapy. Approximately 15% of patients respond to HD IL-2 therapy, with almost 5% going into complete remission; however, use of HD IL-2 therapy is limited due to the toxic effects associated with treatment. Because HD IL-2-associated toxicity is severe, it would be beneficial for clinicians to determine if a patient would respond favorably to this treatment prior to side effect onset.
Previous studies indicate that regulatory T cell (Treg) populations increase in patients undergoing HD IL-2 therapy, and in this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation , Lazlo Radvanyi and colleagues at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center performed an in depth analysis of Treg populations in melanoma patients undergoing HD IL-2 therapy. The authors identified a distinct population of Treg cells that expressed the inducible T cell costimulator (ICOS) that was highly proliferative following the first cycle of HD IL-2.
Furthermore, melanoma patients with greater levels of ICOS+ Tregs in response to HD IL-2 had better clinical outcomes, suggesting that this Treg population may be useful to predict which patients would benefit from HD IL-2.
TITLE: IL-2 therapy promotes suppressive ICOS + Treg expansion in melanoma patients
AUTHOR CONTACT: Lazlo Radvanyi
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
Phone: 713.563.9489; E-mail: lradvanyi@mdanderson.org
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/46266?key=052e9f45d55cf479c3fe
Journal of Clinical Investigation