Combined therapy with IL-6 and inactivated tumor cells suppresses metastasis in mice bearing 3LL lung carcinomas.

We investigated the anti-tumor effects of human recombinant interleukin-6 (hrIL-6) on the highly metastatic Lewis lung-carcinoma clone, D122. These cells express high-affinity IL-6 receptors at numbers comparable to the IL-6-dependent murine hybridoma B9 cells; however, IL-6 did not affect D122 cell proliferation or expression of MHC-class-I antigens in vitro. In vivo, treatment of mice bearing D122 tumors in the footpads, with a low dose of IL-6 in 3 daily injections, 4 days a week for 3 weeks, significantly decreased spontaneous metastases. However, only combined treatment of IL-6 and irradiated tumor cells resulted in almost complete protection against spontaneous metastases. Histological analysis confirmed the absence of micrometastases in most of the animals treated by this combination protocol. Analysis of the cytolytic activity of splenocytes at various time points during combined IL-6 and immunotherapy of tumor-bearing mice revealed significant and sustained lysis of the poorly immunogenic D122 carcinoma cells, while splenocytes of control mice could not lyse D122 target cells. Activation of specific immunity was also demonstrated when mice were pre-immunized with hrIL-6 and inactivated D122 cells and challenged with live carcinoma cells 10 days later. Significant growth inhibition of the primary tumor was observed.