The Effect of Granulocyte Macrophage-Colony Stimulating Factor upon the Induction of Peripheral Blood Dendritic and Natural Killer Cells When Given Simultaneously with a Slow Continuous Doxorubicin Infusion

Abstract

It has been demonstrated that it is safe to give Gm-Csf, together with Doxorubicin, by continuous intravenous infusion, thereby substantially increasing the amount of Doxorubicin administered to the average patient, and assuring that each patient receives an individually-determined safe and maximal amount of drug. It is known that Gm-Csf is a potent inducer of components that are major factors in an immunologic attack upon neoplasms. For that reason, we thought it would be worth evaluating in 4 patients' surface markers of dendritic precursor cells, dendritic cells [DC], and natural killer [NK] cells during the infusion. While there was substantial variation in individual responses, all 4 patients receiving Gm-Csf developed persistent marked increases in cells with each of these markers. The significance of these findings will be discussed.