The goal of any treatment strategy for cancer is to improve not only patient survival but also quality of that survival. Between March 1990 and February 1993, we treated 10 patients with advanced RCC (9 men and 1 woman) by combined immunotherapy using natural interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells, and resulting the quality of life (QOL) issues examined. The ages of the patients ranged from 36 to 78 years (mean: 60.2) and the performance status (PS) ranged from 30 to 100% (mean: 77%). There were 8 lung, 3 bone, 2 brain and 1 neck and para-aortic lymph node metastases. We could evaluate 8 patients, 2 patients dropped out because of bone fracture and acute pneumonia. The protocol was as follows; 1 x 10(6) IU of rIL-2 as an intravenous infusion and 6 x 10(6) IU of IFN-alpha intramuscularly on days 1-7 and 15-21. In additions LAK cells obtained from the patients were given on days 14, 21, 28, and 35 intravenously. This protocol was repeated for more than three cycles (mean: 4.13 cycles) in each patient. The maintenance therapy on outpatient basis were performed in 4 patients after confirmation of the safety of the combined immunotherapy. This outpatient regimen was composed of 1 x 10(6) IU of rIL-2 intravenously, 6 x 10(6) IU of IFN-alpha intramuscularly on days, 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29, plus LAK cells on days 15 and 29. We repeated this protocol for 3-5 cycles (mean: 4.25 cycles).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)