IMMUNE SYSTEM: IMMUNE CHEMICALS
Interferon, one of the substances secreted by various virus-infected cells, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of a rare cancer called hairy-cell leukemia, a disease that until recently had no treatment. Interferon also has been found in clinical tests to fight chronic leukemia, kidney cancer, and Kaposi’s sarcoma, the cancer peculiar to AIDS victims.
Another T-cell substance, interleukin, has been described by the National Cancer Institute as one of the major advances against cancer in a decade. The institute’s Dr. Steven Rosenberg reported in December 1985 that, with interleukin, advanced cancers in one patient had retreated completely, and 11 patients had at least a 50 percent reduction in tumor size. “Here, really for the first time, we can use the immune system to attack a broad array of cancer,” he says.
Besides interferon and interleukin, scientists have identified other powerful immune system chemicals. One, tumor necrosis factor, seems to destroy cancer cells without hurting normal cells.
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