EDITORS: Color photographs of lungs from experimental and control mice used in the U-M study are available on request.

ANN ARBOR—Interleukin-2, a well-known weapon in the fight against cancer, has proven to be a powerful new addition to a University of Michigan cancer vaccine that mobilizes the body’s own immune system to attack and destroy malignant cells.

In a study published in the March 2 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U-M researchers present the results of experiments testing the effectiveness of the vaccine/IL-2 combination on laboratory mice with large, advanced sarcomas or breast cancers. While not included in the PNAS article, U-M scientists also are studying other types of tumors, including aggressive skin cancers called melanomas, to determine their response to the vaccine/IL-2 combination.

It is the first study to combine interleukin-2, a growth factor that stimulates immune system cells to divide and multiply, with a cancer vaccine made from specialized white blood cells called dendritic cells, which alert the body’s immune system to the presence of cancer.

“The addition of IL-2 substantially improved our vaccine’s anti-tumor effect,” said James J. Mul?, Ph.D., professor of surgery in the U-M Medical School, director of the Tumor Immunotherapy Program in the U-M Health System’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and a member of the U-M

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