Table 2.
Completed clinical trials of EBV-CTLs in NPC.
| Treatment | Year | Cohort size | Clinical outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autologous EBV-CTLs | 2001 | 4 | The treatment was safe and unaccompanied by inflammatory or other complications, but whether it improved tumor control could not be discerned from the large tumor bulk. 3/4: EBV burden decrease; 3/4: die of PD (9–21 months after EBV-CTLs) (112). |
| EBV-specific CTLs | 2004 | 1 | Adoptive transfer of allogeneic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific cytotoxic T cells with in vitro antitumor activity boosts LMP2-specific immune response in a patient with EBV-related NPC;Preliminary data obtained in this patient indicate that EBV-specific CTLs are safe, may exert specific killing of NPC tumor cells in vitro, and induce antitumor effect in vivo (113). |
| Autologous EBV-specific CTLs (LCL-stimulated CTL with low-dose IL-2) | 2005 | 10 | Cell therapy with EBV-targeted autologous CTLs is safe, induces LMP-2-specific immunologic responses, and is associated with objective responses and control of disease progression in patients with stage IV NPC resistant to conventional treatments (107). |
| Autologous EBV-specific CTLs | 2005 | 10 | Administration of EBV-specific CTLs to patients with advanced NPC is feasible, appears to be safe, and can be associated with significant antitumor activity (114). |
| CTL following anti-CD45 mAb administration | 2009 | 8 | 1/8: CR; 2/8: SD; 5/8: PD; Lymphodepleting mAbs prior CTL transfer may represent an alternative to chemotherapy to enhance expansion of infused CTL (109). |
| EBV-specific CTLs | 2010 | 23 | Treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory EBV-positive NPC with EBV-CTLs is safe and can be associated with significant, long-term clinical benefit, particularly for patients with locoregional disease (108). |
| Higher doses of Autologous EBV-specific CTLs(CTL following cyclophosphamide and fludarabine CT) | 2012 | 11 | EBV-specific CTL therapy is safe and associated with antitumor activity in patients with advanced NPC;Preparative lymphodepleting chemotherapy does not improve clinical results (115). |
| EBV-CTL following GC CT | 2014 | 38 | 3/38: CR; 22/38: PR; 11/38: SD; 1/38: PD; 1/38: N/A; 3-year OS: 37.1%; These study achieved one of the best survival outcomes in patients with advanced NPC, setting the stage for a future randomized study of chemotherapy with and without EBV-CTL (116). |
| Autologous EBV-specific CTL | 2014 | 1 | After infusion, the majority of pulmonary lesions were no longer evident, although the primary tumor did not regress (117). |
| AdE1-LMPpoly vector-based CTL | 2017 | 29 | Adoptive immunotherapy with AdE1-LMPpoly-expanded T cells stabilizes relapsed, refractory NPC without significant toxicity (118). |
CR, complete response; CT, chemotherapy; CTL, cytotoxic T-cell; GC, gemcitabine and carboplatin; N/A, not available; ORR, objective response rate; OS, overall survival; PD, progressive disease; SD, stable disease.