Activated cytotoxic T-lymphocyte immunotherapy is effective for advanced oral and maxillofacial cancers.

Conventional cancer treatments are surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, but treatment efficiency is insufficient and cancer recurrence is common. Immunotherapy has been added as an important cancer treatment component, but no reports on its efficacy in oral and maxillofacial cancers exist. We evaluated the clinical efficacy of adoptive immunotherapy using ex vivo-activated cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) in the treatment of 7 patients with advanced oral and maxillofacial cancers with stage IV disease at diagnosis.

Combined arsenic trioxide-cisplatin treatment enhances apoptosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma cells.

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for the majority of oral cancers. Despite recent advances in OSCC diagnostics and therapeutics, the overall survival rate still remains low. Here, we assessed the efficacy of a combinatorial arsenic trioxide (ATO) and cisplatin (CDDP) treatment in human OSCC cells.

Combinations of tumor-specific CD8+ CTLs and anti-CD25 mAb provide improved immunotherapy.

One new approach to cancer therapy is based on the adoptive transfer of tumor-specific cytotoxic T cells and anti-CD25 antibodies. In the present study, CD8+ and IFN-gamma secreting T lymphocytes (CTLs) were enriched as tumor-specific cytotoxic T cells from spleen lymphocytes of mice bearing the Renca tumor (a murine renal carcinoma line originating from a BALB/c mouse) after stimulation with tumor cells. An anti-CD25 IL-2Ralpha(anti-CD25) mAb from hybridoma PC61 was used for depletion for CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T (Treg) cells.