Name of the Trial
Phase I Study of Interleukin-7 in Patients with Refractory Solid Tumors (NCI-03-C-0152). See the protocol summary at http://cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/NCI-03-C-0152G.

Principal Investigator
Dr. Claude Kasten-Sportes, NCI Center for Cancer Research

Why Is This Trial Important?
Immunotherapy involves stimulating or restoring the body's immune system to more aggressively fight disease and is one method being investigated to treat many different forms of cancer.

Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is one immunotherapy agent being tested to treat cancer. IL-7 can stimulate tumor-fighting white blood cells (T cells and B cells) to grow. In addition, some animal studies have shown that treatment with IL-7 may cause tumors to shrink.

In this phase I trial, researchers are testing IL-7's ability to stimulate patients' white blood cells to kill cancer cells in solid tumors that have not responded to standard therapies. Solid tumors include cancers of body tissues other than the blood, bone marrow, or lymphatic system.

"IL-7 seems to be a very promising immunotherapy agent," said Dr. Kasten-Sportes. "This trial should provide the knowledge of how to best use IL-7 to improve immunotherapy in the treatment of solid tumors."

Who Can Join This Trial?
Researchers seek to enroll 15-30 patients aged 18 or over with diagnosed solid tumors for which there is no known curative therapy and that have not responded to standard therapy. See the full list of eligibility criteria for this trial at http://cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/NCI-03-C-0152G.

Where Is This Trial Taking Place?
This study is taking place at the National Institutes of Health Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md.

Who to Contact
For more information, call the NCI Clinical Studies Support Center (CSSC) at 1-888-NCI-1937. The CSSC provides information about cancer trials taking place on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md. The call is toll free and confidential.