Immunotherapy of osteogenic sarcoma with transfer factor

Summary Fifteen patients with osteogenic sarcoma were treated with transfer factor derived from leukocytes of their household contacts. Eight of the fifteen patients were tumor-bearing, and transfer factor therapy was correlated with increased cell-mediated immunity in peripheral blood lymphocytes and with lymphocytic infiltrates into the tumors. There was no marked increased in survival time as compared with historical controls, but this therapy did not accelerate the disease, and there were no untoward side effects.Seven of the fifteen patients were disease-free when transfer therapy was initiated shortly after surgical removal of the primary tumor (five patients) or solitary pulmonary metastases (two patients). These patients received transfer factor injections every 2 weeks for 1–2 years. Six of the seven patients are disease-free 62–82 months after surgery. Compared with probabilities of 5-year survival computed from historical controls, this is significant at P<0.008. Abbreviations used in this paper are: CI, cytotoxicity index; GCT, giant cell tumor of bone; HHC, household contacts; HHC_os, household contacts of patients with osteogenic sarcoma; MIC, mononuclear inflammatory cell; TFCI, transfer factor cytotoxicity index; TSTF, tumor-specific transfer factor.