IL-2: the first effective immunotherapy for human cancer

The ability of IL-2 to expand T cells with maintenance of functional activity has been translated into the first reproducible effective human cancer immunotherapies. The administration of IL-2 can lead to durable, complete, and apparently curative regressions in patients with metastatic melanoma and renal cancer. The growth of large numbers of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes with in vitro anti-cancer activity in IL-2 has led to the development of cell transfer therapies that are highly effective in patients with melanoma. The genetic modification of T cells with genes encoding αβ TCRs or chimeric Ag receptors and the administration of these cells after expansion in IL-2 have extended effective cell transfer therapy to other cancer types.