Trial of therapy with monoclonal antibody 17-1A in pancreatic carcinoma: preliminary results.

Monoclonal antibody 17-1A was administered to 25 patients with advanced unresectable carcinoma of the pancreas. Ten patients received 17-1A alone in 400 mg doses delivered intravenously, while 15 patients received 400 mg 17-1A absorbed on to autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells collected by leukapheresis (usual yield greater than 10(9) cells). No toxicity was observed. Twenty-three patients developed circulating anti-murine immunoglobulin within three weeks of treatment, and 11 patients developed circulating anti-idiotypic immunoglobulin. Four out of 19 clinically evaluable patients (21%) showed objective regressions of tumor. Response did not correlate with the presence or absence of anti-idiotypic antibody and did not correlate with the method of treatment with 17-1A alone or 17-1A and mononuclear cells, at the time of current analysis.