Trial Information

Evaluation of Preexisting Immunity Markers in Human Tumor Tissue Sample

Cancer immunotherapy has been shown to be effective in isolated instances, but ineffective
in most patients. The reason for this inconsistency, and the conditions necessary for
successful immunotherapy, are not well understood. Our studies in animal tumor models
indicate that the effectiveness of IL-12-based immunotherapy depends upon the presence of a
preexisting immune response to the tumor. The presence of T cell infiltrates and IFN-gamma
expression in tumor indicate such an immune response. We therefore plan to evaluate the
existing immune response in human tumor samples in an effort to identify those patients most
likely to respond to therapy with IL-12.