[Cytokines in tumor therapy]

The use of recombinant cytokines offers a new dimension in cancer treatment. While the effects of cytotoxic chemotherapy are relatively nonspecific and affecting all rapidly proliferating tissues, these hormone-like, physiologically produced substances are able to modulate tumor-host interactions and in addition may interact with pathogenetically relevant disturbances in growth related cellular functions. The latter principle seems to be of major importance for the impressive results of interferon alfa treatment in hairy cell leukemia. The expected anti-tumor effects of tumor necrosis factor alfa and of interleukin-2 activated killer cells, however, have only been observed in occasional patients, most of them with rare tumors. A more immediately promising therapeutic approach seems to be at hand with the hemopoietic growth factors. They are able to stimulate the non-specific system of host defense as well as the hemopoietic progenitor cell compartment, relevant for reconstitution after aplasiogenic chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation and thus in near future could be of great importance in the treatment of tumor diseases.