Potential immunotherapeutic role of interleukin-2 and interleukin-12 combination in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Many recent therapeutic interventions are necessary to improve the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), including immunotherapy, which seems to offer one of the new realistic therapeutic modalities. This study aims to investigate the optimization of immunotherapy for HCC patients by appraisal of both interferon (IFN)-γ levels and phenotyping of lymphocytes obtained from peripheral blood and fine-needle aspirates.

Methods: The isolated lymphocytes were cultured in the presence of interleukins (IL)-2, IL-4, and IL-12.