Dendritic cell-activated cytokine-induced killer cell-mediated immunotherapy is safe and effective for cancer patients >65 years old.

Individuals >65 years old account for a large proportion of cancer patients, and usually have poor prognoses due to relative weaker physiological function and lower drug tolerance. To characterize the efficacy and safety of dendritic cell (DC)-activated cytokine-induced killer cell (CIK)-mediated treatment, and develop an adoptive immunotherapy for cancer patients >65 years old, a retrospective study was performed in 58 cancer sufferers who received 1-4 cycles of DC-activated CIK (DC-CIK) treatment and evaluated the response (tumor remission rate) and toxicity (side effects to the treatment). The present results showed that DCs and CIKs could be expanded rapidly , and following co-culture with DCs, the population of cluster of differentiation (CD) 3, CD3CD4, CD3CD8 and CD3CD56 CIKs was significantly increased compared to CIKs without DC activation (P=0.