IL-7 expands lymphocyte populations and enhances immune responses to sipuleucel-T in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC)

Abstract

Treatment with rhIL-7 led to a significant expansion of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, and CD56^bright natural killer (NK) cells compared with observation after treatment with sip-T. The rhIL-7 treatment also led to improved antigen-specific humoral and T cell proliferative responses over time as well as to increased expression of activation markers and beneficial cytokines. This is the first study to evaluate the use of rhIL-7 after sip-T in patients with mCRPC and demonstrates encouraging results for combination approaches to augment beneficial immune responses.