THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF COMBINATION OF CHEMOTHERAPY AND BIOTHERAPY ON COLORECTAL CANCER AND ITS EFFECTS ON IMMUNE CELLS, NK, IFN-γ AND IL-2

Bingyu Liu, Chao Zhong, Baoping Wu

Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, P.R. China, No.1838, North of Guangzhou Avenue, Guangzhou

 Purpose: To investigate the therapeutic effects of chemotherapy combined with biotherapy on colorectal cancer (CRC) and its effects on immune cells, NK, IFN-γ and IL-2.

Methods: Seventy patients with CRC treated in our hospital from March 2015 to July 2017 were selected and randomly divided into observation group and control group. The control group was treated with XELOX chemotherapy regimen, while the observation group received XELOX chemotherapy combined with dendritic cell (DC)-cytokine-induced killer cell (CIK) immunotherapy. Immune cells, peripheral blood cytokines, clinical efficacy, quality of life and the incidence of adverse reactions were compared between the two groups before and after treatment.

Results: After treatment, the levels of CD3+, CD3+/CD4+, CD3+/CD8+, NK and CIK cells in observation group were significantly increased and higher than those in the control group, while their corresponding levels in the control group were significantly decreased (p < 0.05). The levels of IFN-γ and IL-2 in the observation group were significantly increased after treatment and significantly higher than those in the control group after treatment (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in IL-6 in the observation group before and after treatment, but it was significantly lower than that of the control group after treatment (p < 0.05). The levels of IFN-γ and IL-2 in the observation group decreased significantly after treatment, while IL-6 in the observation group was significantly increased (p < 0.05). Effectiveness in the observation group was 60.00 %, and the rate of control was 85.71 %. These were significantly higher than the corresponding values in control group (31.43 % and 51.43 %, respectively) (p < 0.05). The quality of life in the observation group was 85.71 %, which was significantly higher than that in the control group (54.29 %) (p < 0.05). Adverse reactions such as peripheral neurotoxicity, bone marrow suppression, nausea and diarrhea in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Chemotherapy combined with biotherapy improves immune function in patients with colorectal cancer, increases their serum NK, IFN-γ and IL-2 levels, improves clinical effectiveness and quality of life, and reduces the incidence of adverse reactions.