Metastatic renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) is not responsive to conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy, but a subset of patients achieve a durable remission with the use of interleukin-2 (IL-2).
In genito-urinary tumors immunotherapy has been administered for a long time: Calmette-Guèrin Bacillus as adjuvant treatment in high risk patients with non muscle invasive urothelial bladder cancer and interleukin-2 and interferon-α in metastatic kidney cancer.
Phase II trial of Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) virus expressing 5T4 and high dose Interleukin-2 (IL-2) in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
For almost the last two decades, interleukin-2 and interferon-alpha have been the only systemic treatment options available for metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
Clinical outcome of high-dose bolus intravenous interleukin-2 with a modified administration schedule for Asian patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
Despite the rapid development of therapeutic modalities for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) over the past decade to include a number of targeted antiangiogenic therapies and traditional immunotherapy, such as high-dose interleukin-2 and interferon-α, mRCC continues to be associated with poor prognosis.