To explore the efficacy and safety of dendritic cell-cytokine induced killer cell (DC-CIK) immunotherapy combined with paclitaxel-cisplatin chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer.
Patients with advanced ovarian cancer formed the Chemotherapy group (paclitaxel-cisplatin, n=68) and the other 68 patients formed the DC-CIK group (DC-CIK + paclitaxel-cisplatin, n=68). The short-term efficacy and changes in the levels of immune function indexes, serum CD133 and DEAD-box helicase 4 (DDX4) were analyzed.
Both overall response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) in the DC-CIK group were significantly better than those in the Chemotherapy group. After treatment, the proportions of CD3+ T lymphocytes, CD3+ CD4+ T lymphocytes and NK cells and the CD4/CD8 ratio were evidently higher, while the proportion of CD4+ CD25+ T lymphocytes was evidently lower in the DC-CIK group than those in the Chemotherapy group. After treatment, the levels of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), CA125, human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), cytokeratin 19 fragment antigen 21-1 (CYFRA21-1), DDX4 and CD133 markedly declined in the two groups, and they were markedly lower in the DC-CIK group than in the Chemotherapy group. At 1 month after treatment, the score of emotional functioning in function module of QLQ-C30 scale was greatly higher in the DC-CIK group than that in the Chemotherapy group, while the score of nausea and vomiting in symptom module was greatly lower in the DC-CIK group than that in the Chemotherapy group. The follow-up analysis showed that the overall survival (OS) rate in the DC-CIK group was remarkably superior than in the Chemotherapy group.
DC-CIK immunotherapy combined with paclitaxel-cisplatin chemotherapy can greatly improve the clinical efficacy, enhance the immune function, reduce the levels of serum tumor markers, raise the quality of life and prolong the survival in patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

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