Clinical application of cascade filtration combined with glassbead adsorbents in cancer patients

Cascade filtration (CF) was applied to patients with advanced cancers. To selectively remove immunosuppressive factors with molecular weight lower than albumin, adsorbents combined with CF were examined. Among 11 kinds of adsorbents, glassbead adsorbents with pore size of 100Å were the most effective in adsorbing such substances. Clinically, a column packed with glassbead adsorbents was concomitantly used with CF. The second filtrate was passed through the column and returned to the patient. The removal rate of immunosuppressive substances with molecular weight lower than albumin was only 20% by CF alone, but more than 50% by CF combined with glassbead adsorbents. Clinical symptoms such as severe back pain and general malaise were drastically improved during and after therapy. These results suggest that CF combined with glassbead adsorbents is an effective adjunctive modality to cancer therapy.