Il-2rbeta-selective agonists in combination with an anti-ctla-4 antibody or an anti-pd-1 antibody

Abstract

The invention relates to (among other things) a method of administering to a patient suffering from a cancer, the method comprising the steps of: (a) administering an IL-2Rβ-activating amount of a long acting, IL-2Rβ-selective agonist; and (b) administering a CTLA-4 pathway-inhibiting amount of an anti-CTLA-4 antibody or a PD-1 pathway-inhibiting amount of an anti-PD-1 antibody.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of treating a patient suffering from a cancer, the method comprising the steps of: (a) administering to the patient an IL-2Rβ-activating amount of a long acting, interleukin-2 receptor beta (IL-2Rβ)-selective agonist; and (b) administering to the patient a CTLA-4 pathway-inhibiting amount of an anti-CTLA-4 antibody or a PD-1 pathway-inhibiting amount of an anti-PD-1 antibody. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the patient is human. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claims 1 , wherein the cancer is a solid cancer. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the solid cancer is selected from the group consisting of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, malignant melanoma, liver cancer, small cell lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, thyroid cancers, kidney cancer, cancer of the bile duct, brain cancer, cervical cancer, maxillary sinus cancer, bladder cancer, esophageal cancer, Hodgkin's disease and adrenocortical cancer. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the cancer is colon cancer. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the cancer is breast cancer. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein step (a) is carried out prior to step (b) being carried out. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein (a) is carried out after step (b) is carried out. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein steps (a) and (b) are carried out simultaneously.