Evaluation of the Efficacy and Safety of DC-CIK Bioimmunotherapy in the Treatment of Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a malignant tumor with a high incidence rate and mortality rate. This study aims to explore the efficacy and safety of dendritic cell cytokine-induced killer cell (DC-CIK) bioimmunotherapy in advanced NSCLC. Sixty-four NSCLC patients treated in our hospital from June 2019 to February 2021 were chosen as the DC-CIK group, all of whom received DC-CIK bioimmunotherapy based on synchronous radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Following the 1:1 matching principle, another 64 NSCLC patients treated with synchronous chemotherapy admitted at the same time were picked as the control group. The clinical efficacy, adverse effects, survival period, the content of immune-related indexes (NK, CD3⁺, CD4⁺, CD4⁺/CD8⁺), and peripheral blood tumor markers [embryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen (CA) 125, cytokeratin 19 serum fragment 211 (CYFRA211), squamous cell carcinoma-associated antigen (SCCAg)] were compared before and after treatment. The overall remission rate was 85.94% in the DC-CIK group, which was much higher than 65.63% of the control group after treatment (p < 0.05). The treatment obviously decreased the content of CD3⁺ and CD4⁺ and largely elevated CD4⁺/CD8⁺ in two groups. The DC-CIK group had a significantly elevated level of NK, which was largely decreased in the control group (p < 0.05). The DC-CIK group had a markedly higher content of NK, CD3⁺, CD4⁺, and CD4⁺/CD8⁺ than the control (p < 0.01). After treatment, the content of CEA, CA125, CYFRA211, and SCC-Ag was significantly decreased in two groups than before (p < 0.05), which was lower in the DC-CIK group than the control (p < 0.05). The DC-CIK group had a much lower incidence of fever, granulocytopenia, and gastrointestinal reactions than the control (p < 0.01). The DC-CIK group and the control group had a median survival of 17 months and 13 months respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival curve and log-rank test further proved that DC-CIK bioimmunotherapy prolonged the survival period of patients (p < 0.05). In conclusion, DC-CIK bioimmunotherapy was clinically effective in the treatment of advanced NSCLC, which improved patients' immune function, elevated the survival time of patients within 2 years with a certain degree of safety.