Abstract:
Objective To evaluate the association of immunotherapy with the clinicopathologic parameters, disease-free survival, and overall survival of patients with renal cell carcinoma.
Method A total of 298 patients with renal cell carcinoma who underwent radical nephrectomy of at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital between January 2000 and December 2005 were retrospectively studied. Of all the 298 cases of renal cell carcinoma, preoperative imaging showed no regional lymph node or distant metastasis. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine the association between immunotherapy and survival.
Results The 5-year disease-free and 5-year survival rates of patients who received IFNct-2a (90.0 % and 91.4 %) and LAK cell therapy (83.5 % and 89.9 %) after radical nephrectomy were found to be significantly higher than those of the patients who did not receive such treatments (68.1% and 76.5 %). In the univariate analysis, immunotherapy was found to be associated with disease-free and overall survival time. A multivariable Cox regression model revealed immunotherapy as an independent predictor of renal cell carcinoma.
Conclusion Immunotherapy after radical nephrectomy could reduce the risk of recurrence and metastasis, as well as prolong overall survival time in renal cell carcinoma patients.