Evaluation of Preexisting Immunity Markers in Human Tumor Tissue Sample

Cancer immunotherapy has been shown to be effective in isolated instances, but ineffective in most patients. The reason for this inconsistency, and the conditions necessary for successful immunotherapy, are not well understood. Our studies in animal tumor models indicate that the effectiveness of IL-12-based immunotherapy depends upon the presence of a preexisting immune response to the tumor. The presence of T cell infiltrates and IFN-gamma expression in tumor indicate such an immune response. We therefore plan to evaluate the existing immune response in human tumor samples in an effort to identify those patients most likely to respond to therapy with IL-12.

Inclusion Criteria:Any adult patient with a tumor who is scheduled to undergo surgery to either remove or biopsy the tumor. Exclusion Criteria:Patients without tumor and pediatric patients (children) will be excluded.