Effect of immunotherapy with Corynebacterium parvum and methanol extraction residue of BCG administered intravenously on host defense function in cancer patients

The effects of active nonspecific immunotherapy were studied in 42 patients receiving daily iv Corynebacterium parvum at 2 mg/m² in 14-day courses and in 14 patients receiving iv methanol extraction residue of BCG (MER) at 0.5 mg/m² weekly. The host defense evaluations included measurement of the number of adherent macrophage precursors per milliliter of blood (monocyte adherence), serum lysozyme, and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to chicken red blood cells (CRBC) or human red blood cells (HRBC). During a single course of C. parvum, monocyte adherence did not rise significantly, whereas ADCC of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to CRBC and HRBC rose significantly (15.7-49.9% and 34.8-53.5% lysis of target cells, respectively). However, after a mean of 4.5 months on therapy, monocyte adherence increased an average of 7.5-fold. During weekly MER therapy, monocyte adherence, serum lysozyme, and ADCC of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to CRBC rose significantly within 4-7 days after the first dose (3.8-8.7 adherent cells/ml bloodX10⁴, 7.6-10.8 μg/ml, and 34.4-41.4% target cell lysis, respectively). The host defense parameter, which was subnormal in the cancer patients (monocyte adherence), was boosted into the normal range in all the deficient patients by iv MER. The host defense parameters, which were normal or slightly elevated in the patients before therapy (serum lysozyme and ADCC of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to CRBC), were hyperactivated above the upper limit of the normal range in 71.4, 71.4, and 50% of the patients, respectively, by iv MER. These methods can quantitatively reflect activation of monocytes and killer cells by C. parvum and MER and may be useful for evaluation and quantitation of both active nonspecific and immunorestorative immunotherapy in general.