Kidney Cancer, Once Inevitably Fatal, Now May Be Curable with IL-2

When Neil Thurgood's doctors showed him the X-rays of his lungs, his comment was that they looked like two tube socks full of golfballs. But the golfballs were cancerous tumors that had metastisized from cancer in his left kidney. Thurgood, age 54, with one child still in high school and two still in college, feared he would not live to see any of this children graduate. 

His oncologist, however, said there might be hope yet. The doctor persuaded Thurgood that his only hope was to take an exceptionally unpleasant immune system booster called interleukin-2, also known as IL-2, and hope for the best.

Two months later Thurgood's oncologist came into the exam room almost giddy with good news. The two tube socks that were his lungs were almost free of golfball-sized tumors, and there also seemed to be healing of cancerous lesions in his bones.

A Cancer Seldom Detected in Time

The form of kidney cancer known as renal cell carcinoma kills about 13,000 people every year in the United States alone. Survival rates from renal cell carcinoma have stayed about the same for 40 years in the USA, although they have been improving in Europe. 

Renal cell carcinoma is seldom detected early, because it can produce a variety of symptoms in its early stages, which may or may not occur together:

• The classic symptoms of kidney cancer are hematuria (blood in the urine), pain in the flank, and a palpable mass in the kidney, one that the doctor can feel. This combination of symptoms, however, only occurs in about 10% of cases.
• About 40% of cases present blood in the urine.
• About 40% of cases present flank pain.
• About 30% of cases involve weight loss.
• About 25% of cases result in a tumor that can be felt during physical examination.
• And smaller numbers of cases involve fever, high blood calcium levels, swelling in one testicle in men (due to pressure on a vein serving the testicle), night sweats, or severe fatigue.

Severe Complications Later On

The later stages of kidney cancer, however, produce a variety of symptoms that are extremely difficult to manage. Red blood cells may break down. Even if the cancer does not spread to the liver, there may be impaired liver function. High blood pressure may become unmanageable. Lumps of amyloid protein can build up in organs throughout the body, and there can be painful changes in the joints and skin.

Some people are more likely to survive renal cell carcinoma than others.

See Also: Kidney Cancer - Risks, Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention Tips

If the cancer has already spread, but it has only has spread to the lungs, there is usually a longer survival time. People who have more "energy" tend to live longer, as do people who have normal calcium levels and normal amounts of hemoglobin in the bloodstream. But once the disease has spread, very few live as long as 5 years.

Hope For A Cure For Kidney Cancer

The 5-year survival rates for kidney cancer are essentially 0%. Treatment with a medication called IL-2, however, prevents the progression of the cancer in about 60% of patients and results in "complete response," a cure, in about 1 in 20 renal cell cancer patients. Says Dr. Thomas Schwaab of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York:

"I am one of the few people who stands up at kidney cancer meetings and waves the flag for IL-2. Current targeted treatments all treat kidney cancer well in that they prolong regression, but none of them have a truly curative aspect to them. Our clinical results continue to be impressive in this otherwise lethal disease," he said in an interview.

What Is IL-2?

IL-2 (interleukin-2) is a protein that serves as a signalling molecule in the immune system. It gives directions to "baby white blood cells" to multiply and mature in fully functioning effector T cells, which can release chemicals that serve as a natural chemotherapy against cancer.

Recombinant, or "artifical" IL-2 can be mass produced for use in treating cancer and chronic infections.

Drawbacks to IL-2 Treatment

While IL-2 is of known efficacy in treating a number of conditions, it's not without side effects. Most patients on IL-2 complain that the symptoms are similar to an unusually bad case of flu that just won't go away. IL-2 can't be given to people who have tumors in the brain, because it can cause bleeding in the brain that builds up pressure in the skull, and it is dangerous when given to people who are using certain herbal preparations, such as the Japanese herbal remedy sho-saiko-to (which is also available from practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine as variations of the formula Xiao Chai Hu Tang).

Living Better vs. Living Longer with IL-2

An extra two years of life with a medication that insurance already covers, however, could be a promising prospect if the side effects could just be held at bay. Oncologist Dr. Nicholas Vogelzang of the Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, in Las Vegas, says IL-2 therapy requires "a high level of experience, inpatient close monitoring by skilled nurses, and a physician willing to take on the heavy burden imposed by an around-the- clock risk of toxicity."

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And with that caveat, Vogelzang recommends IL-2 for all of his patients under the age of 60.

IL-2 is never a do-it-yourself treatment. It's always necessary to have the help of doctors and nurses who are experienced with the medication and available to deal with side effects of the medication. But with that level of care, IL-2 offers at least a few kidney cancer patients a chance at life and living it well.