[Immunochemotherapy of metastatic renal cell carcinoma with interleukin 2, interferon-alpha and 5-fluorouracil]

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) were both administered subcutaneously (SC) in combination with intravenously (IV) applied 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) for the treatment of patients with metastasized renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The therapy protocol consisted of a treatment cycle of 8 weeks, which could be carried out in an outpatient regimen. The IFN-alpha was given in each of the 8 weeks (6-9 MU/m2 once to three times weekly SC) combined sequentially with IL-2 (5-20 MU/m2 three times weekly SC for 4 weeks) and 5-FU (750 mg/m2 IV weekly for 4 weeks). Among the 30 consecutive patients treated, in 2 cases a complete, and in 9 cases a partial, remission was achieved in patients with mostly lung and skeletal metastases, with an overall objective response rate of 37%. Mean response duration was 8 months (range 3-18 months). A stable state of the disease lasting 3-18 months was observed in 10 cases. The side effects were only slight and corresponded to toxicity grade I (n = 2), grade II (n = 22) and grade III (n = 6), according to the WHO classification. In conclusion, this triple-drug biochemotherapy demonstrated significant clinical effectiveness comparable with that of an aggressive IL-2 treatment regimen (applied IV), but without its high toxicity.