Abstract: Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of cytokine-induced killer(CIK)cells and photodynamic therapy(PDT)in combination in the treatment of advanced esophageal cancer. Methods A total of 63 patients with advanced esophageal cancer were collected and randomly divided into two groups: CIK group(treated with CIK cells alone, n=33), and CIK+PDT group(treated with both CIK cells and PDT, n=30). For the CIK group, CIK cells were cultured for 14 days, and transfused for 3 times at an interval of 1~2 days, and the number of CIK cells was >1×10⁹, activity > 95%. For the CIK+PDT group, CIK cells were cultured for 14 days, administered with photofrin 5 mg/kg on day 12, irradiated by 630nm-laser under endoscopic guidance on day 13 for 30 min, power density being 150 mW/cm², energy density being 270 J/cm², and transfused on day 14. The remission rate of clinical symptoms, total effective rate, immune function and life quality of all patients were evaluated. Results The remission rate of clinical symptoms(93.3% vs 60.6%)and the total effective rate(90% vs 63.6%)were much higher in the CIK+PDT group than in the CIK group(P<0.01, P<0.05). There were significant differences in the percentages of CD3⁺, and CD3⁺ CD56⁺ T cells before and after treatment in the two groups(all P<0.05); and the increase was higher in the CIK+PDT group than in the CIK group(P<0.05). The increase of life quality was higher in the CIK+PDT 山 东 大 学 学 报 (医 学 版)54卷1期 - 张明明,等.CIK细胞联合光动力治疗中晚期食管癌的疗效观察 \=-group than in the CIK group(86.7% vs 33.3%, P<0.01). Conclusion The CIK cells combined with PDT can improve the clinical efficacy, and enhance the immune function of patients with advanced esophageal cancer, and thereby have a good clinical value.

Key words: Photodynamic therapy, Esophageal cancer, Clinical curative effect, Cytokine-induced killer cells