Immunotherapy
IL-2 has been tested in many clinical trials as an immunotherapy for the treatment of cancers, chronic viral infections and as adjuvants for vaccines.
A recombinant form of human IL-2 for clinical use is manufactured by Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. with the brand name Proleukin. It has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of cancers (malignant melanoma, renal cell cancer) in large intermittent toxic doses, and is in clinical trials for the treatment of chronic viral infections, and as a booster (adjuvant) for vaccines. The use of large, toxic doses of IL-2 given every 6–8 weeks in HIV therapy, similar to its use in cancer therapy, has been found recently to be ineffective in preventing progression to an AIDS diagnosis in two large clinical trials. However, that does not mean that the drug is ineffective in improving T-cell count. Many persons who underwent IL-2 therapy enjoyed dramatic improvement in T-cell count, as well as overall health. But the FDA determined that the risks and costs (experience of side-effects) outweighed those benefits. A recent study in which post-chemotherapy, stage IV cancer patients were given a non-toxic, lower dose of IL-2 in combination with 13-cis retinoic acid showed remarkable improvement in five year survival rates.
Read more about this topic: Interleukin 2