Use bioimmunotherapy with caution for lung cancer

  In China, the current decision making regarding tumor cell biotherapy is actually quite “confusing”, with biotherapy centers being established almost everywhere in the country. So, how useful is the establishment of such centers? Our survey results show that physicians “often” and “occasionally” recommend cellular biologic therapy to patients in about 50% of cases, which is a large number when reflected nationwide.  A search of the studies registered on the Clincal Trials website revealed a very interesting phenomenon: the only country in the world where cytokine-induced killer cell (CIK) immunotherapy for lung cancer is China, and only eight studies from China are registered on this website.  From the mid-1980s, cellular biologic therapy emerged and almost all diseases were treated with lymphokine-activated killer cells (LAK cells) transfused from autologous blood until the late 1990s, when the Ministry of Health called a halt to the technology due to its inaccurate efficacy. In 2008, the technology was rebranded as “CIK immunotherapy”. Today, this technology is widely used throughout the country, but prospective and retrospective clinical studies do not provide sufficient evidence to support it, which violates the first of the four principles of “Choosing Wisely” mentioned above, that is, treatment measures must be supported by sufficient evidence-based medical evidence. In addition, our search results show that patients who receive autologous blood transfusions are at a much higher risk of infection.  Many people consider the “hot” immunotherapy of the last two years as a reaffirmation of the cellular immunotherapy of the past. In fact, today’s cancer immunotherapy has made significant breakthroughs and advances from theory to practice, the key being the discovery of the “Checkpoint”, an immune evasion mechanism between tumor cells and immune cells – mainly PD-1 and PD-L1 ligands. The presence of PD-1 and PD-L1 ligands. When immune cells enter the body, lymphocytes can bind with PD-1 of tumor cells, making tumor cells unrecognized, so that even if more T cells are given to patients, they cannot recognize tumor cells and play a killing role. Therefore, the current theory of immunotherapy no longer supports to kill tumor cells simply by increasing the so-called number of immune cells, but must use some kind of antibody to lift and block immunosuppression, which is equivalent to reshaping the theoretical basis of cancer immunotherapy.  Therefore, the 1st wise choice we propose is not to give cellular bioimmunotherapy to patients with all stages of lung cancer until the benefits, potential harms and high costs of treatment have been discussed with patients and their families. The reasons for this are the 4 principles mentioned above, namely the lack of strong evidence from randomized controlled studies, the unknown potential harms (e.g., it may lead to transmission of infectious diseases, etc.), and the very high costs. The current cancer cellular immunotherapy is very common in China and has reached a situation where it has to be faced, because with the increased propaganda campaign for biologic therapy, many patients are reluctant to undergo any other treatment and choose only this therapy.