Therapeutic outcomes of combining cryotherapy, chemotherapy and DC-CIK immunotherapy in the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer

Currently there are no effective therapies for the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here, we conducted a retrospective study of 161 patients to evaluate the therapeutic effects of combining cryosurgery, chemotherapy and dendritic cell-activated cytokine-induced killer cells (DC-CIK) immunotherapy. The overall survival (OS) after diagnosis of metastatic NSCLC to patient death was assessed during a 5-years follow-up period. OS of patients who received comprehensive cryotherapy was (median OS, 20 months; n = 86) significantly longer than that of patients who did not received cryotherapy (median OS, 10 months; n = 75; P < 0.0001). Five treatment combinations were selected: chemotherapy (n = 44); chemo-immunotherapy (n = 31); cryo-chemotherapy (n = 32); cryo-immunotherapy (n = 21); and cryo-chemo-immunotherapy (n = 33). A combination of cryotherapy with either chemotherapy or immunotherapy lead to significantly longer OS (18 months and 17 months, respectively) compared to chemotherapy and chemo-immunotherapy (8.5 months and 12 months, respectively; P < 0.001); however, the median OS of patients who underwent cryo-chemo-immunotherapy was significantly longer (27 months) compared to the other treatment programs (P < 0.001). In conclusion, a combination of cryotherapy, chemotherapy and DC-CIK immunotherapy proved the best treatment option for metastatic NSCLC in this group of patients.