Prevention of myelosuppression does not improve the therapeutic efficacy of chemo-immunotherapy.

This study was designed to investigate whether the prevention of doxorubicin (DOX) induced myelosuppression could further improve the therapeutic efficacy of chemoimmunotherapy with DOX, interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma). The antitumour activity of systemic IL-2/IFN-gamma immunotherapy in combination with DOX administered either systemically, regionally or on ion-exchange microspheres, was assessed in WAG rats bearing hind limb solid colonic adenocarcinoma implants. Whilst the use of microspheres to transport DOX clearly avoided the myelosuppression, systemic and renal toxicity associated with the use of free DOX, it did not provide any therapeutic advantage over chemo-immunotherapy with free systemic or regional drug.