Interleukin-2 in the treatment of malignant melanoma

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a lymphokine produced by T-cells that has a number of immunomodulatory effects. Treatment of metastatic melanoma with recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2)-based therapies represents one of the earliest attempts at systemic immunomodulation as a therapy for cancer. Initial studies showed objective response rates with rIL-2 therapy alone in the range of 15 - 20% with some durable responses. A multitude of studies have been undertaken with various rIL-2 regimens, with and without co-administration of lymphokine-activated cells or tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes. However, the optimum dose and treatment schedule for rIL-2-based therapy in metastatic melanoma, remains controversial. There are also no clear immunological parameters that can reliably predict antitumour response to rIL-2-based therapy. Ongoing research remains active in exploring the role of rIL-2 in the therapy of malignant melanoma (MM), particularly in conjunction with cytotoxic therapy.