[Chemoimmunotherapy of malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract]

Stimulation of the immune response could be obtained in outpatients with inoperable locally advanced or metastasizing gastrointestinal tumors (n = 56), who were palliatively treated with cyclophosphamide (cy), 350 mg/m2 i.v., thymostimulin, echinacin i.m. and in part additionally with epirubicin, 15 mg/m2 i.v. At present, outpatients with pancreatic (n = 7) or colon carcinomas (n = 1) receive interleukin 2 (IL-2) intralesionally, 2 x 10(5) Cetus units (CU), days 3, 5 and 7 after cy, and by portable continuous infusion systems i.v., 3 x 10(5) CU/day, days 3-8 after cy. Subsets of lymphocytes slightly decreased in the patients' peripheral blood, recall antigen reactivity slightly increased. Patients' mean survival time was 5.7 +/- 1.7 months.