Possible Mechanism of Interleukin-2-Induced Decline of Serum Cholesterol During Adoptive Cellular Immunotherapy in Cancer Patients

The serum levels of total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol of patients receiving intravenous infusion of interleukin-2 as part of adoptive cellular immunotherapy were analyzed. The total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol significantly decreased to about one-half of the pretreatment levels after 5 days of infusion (183 ± 34 to 110 ± 19, 112 ± 40 to 48 ± 24, and 41 ± 10 to 16 ± 7 mg/dl, respectively). The decrease was gradual during each day of the treatment. Lymphocyte concentration increased markedly during treatment (4.0 ± 0.52 to 12.3 ± 2.95 million cells/ml) and the low-density lipoprotein receptor levels in the lymphocytes also increased significantly (1188 ± 240 to 1442 ± 276 ng of bound LDL/million cells). The decrease in cholesterol levels may be related to the cholesterol needed for membrane synthesis during lymphocyte proliferation.