Rationale for immunotherapy of renal cell carcinoma.

Metastasis to distant organs is the principal cause of death from renal cell carcinoma (RCC). No commonly accepted therapy is available for disseminated RCC at present. Immunotherapy is a mode of therapy that either interferes with the immune system or makes use of drugs that have been derived from soluble mediators of the immune system. Several lines of evidence suggest that combinations of genetically engineered cytokines (e.g. interleukin-2 and interferon alpha) may be particularly active in the treatment of advanced RCC. There are two major rationales for considering immunotherapy for RCC: (1) there is currently no other therapy available, and (2) there is hardly any innovative approach besides immunotherapy. Still, immunotherapy is far from being a standard therapy for disseminated RCC.