Continuous whole blood UltraPheresis procedure in patients with metastatic cancer.

Sixteen patients with metastatic cancer, each with bidirectionally measurable disease, were treated with a total of 24 membrane UltraPheresis procedures each to remove a low molecular weight (less than 150,000 daltons) plasma fraction. No other oncologic treatment was applied during the 2 months of study. The procedure was generally well tolerated, and no clinically significant adverse effects were observed from the procedure. A consistent tumor-specific inflammatory response was observed following the UltraPheresis procedure and was associated with lymphocytic infiltration of tumor and tumor necrosis that was demonstrated in those patients evaluable by repeat biopsy. In some patients, anergy was reversed and Karnofsky status improved. Six of the 16 patients had reduction of the sum of mean cross-sectional diameters of measureable lesions by 50% or more.