Anti-Proliferative Effect on Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells of Natural Human Tumour Necrosis Factor-β Combined with Natural Human Interferon-α or Interferon-γ

Abstract

The anti-proliferative effects of natural cytokines, human tumour necrosis factor-β, natural human interferon-α and natural human interferon-γ, on three human pancreatic cancer cell lines (PANC-1, MIA PaCa-2 and BxPC-3) were investigated in vitro. The anti-proliferative effect was determined using the dye uptake method and analysed for synergism by the median effect principle. Tumour necrosis factor-β, as a single agent, had little anti-proliferative effect on any of the three cell lines, whereas interferon-α and interferon-γ exhibited a strong anti-proliferative effect against two cell lines (MIA PaCa-2 and BxPC-3) and one cell line (BxPC-3), respectively. When tumour necrosis factor-β and interferon-α were administered together (ratio 1:1), a synergistic effect was observed against PANC-1 cells. The combination of tumour necrosis factor-β and interferon-γ (ratio 10:1) was synergisic against both PANC-1 and MIA PaCa-2 cells. A synergistic anti-proliferative effect of tumour necrosis factor-β and interferons was, therefore, observed even for cell lines that showed little biological response to each cytokine alone. The data suggest that some future improvement in the treatment of pancreatic cancer may be obtained by using combination cytokine therapy.