Efficacy of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Combined with IFN- α in Chinese Resected Stage III Malignant Melanoma.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to explore the efficacy of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) along with interferon- α (IFN- α ) to treat stage III malignant melanoma (MM) patients in China.

METHODS: Between May 2010 and October 2014, 77 patients of stage III MM who underwent surgery were collected in this study. These patients were divided into two groups: patients who received TIL + IFN- α  ± RetroNectin-activated cytokine-induced killer cells (R-CIK) in Arm 1 ( n = 27) and IFN- α  ± R-CIK in Arm 2 ( n = 50) as adjuvant therapy. The primary endpoints were disease-free survival (DFS) time and DFS rates measured at time points of 1, 2, and 3 years. The secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS) rates measured at time points of 1, 2, 3, and 5 years as well as OS as evaluated by Kaplan-Meier.

RESULTS: Our results indicated that the median DFS and OS in Arm 1 were significantly better than those in Arm 2. The data also demonstrated that DFS rate and OS rates in Arm 1 were significantly better than those in Arm 2 at all measured time points.

CONCLUSION: Patients who undergo surgical excision of stage III MM appear to enjoy prolonged DFS and OS when treated with TIL + IFN- α compared to IFN- α alone.