A trial for advanced kidney cancer comparing interleukin 2 alone and interleukin 2 with SRL172

Cancer type:

Kidney cancer

Status:

Results

Phase:

Phase 2

This trial looked at treating kidney cancer that has spread with either interleukin 2 (IL-2) alone or interleukin 2 given with a vaccine called SRL172.

Interleukin 2 is a type of biological therapy. Doctors often use it to treat kidney cancer that has spread.

SRL172 is a vaccine, which is also a type of biological therapy. It is made from bacteria called mycobacterium vaccae. The bacteria have been killed with heat so they are not harmful. SRL172 helps the immune system recognise and kill cancer cells.

Half the people taking part in this trial had IL-2 alone. The other half had IL-2 and SRL172.

The aim of this trial was to see if the combination of IL-2 and SRL172 is useful for treating advanced kidney cancer. And to see what the side effects are.

Summary of results

This trial showed that SRL172 and IL2 together did not work better than IL-2 alone for advanced kidney cancer.

Unfortunately, the trial stopped recruiting patients earlier than planned because there was a problem with the supply of SRL172. They recruited 37 patients instead of the 66 they had planned to recruit.

The people who had SRL172 and IL-2 actually had fewer side effects than those who had IL-2 alone. Previous studies have shown that the side effects of SRL172 are mild.

It is difficult to draw definite conclusions because the trial was small. The research team feel that further research into the use of SRL172 for kidney cancer would be useful.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed Open a glossary item ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.