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Query: UMLS:C0025202 (melanoma)
 69,561 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Encouraging clinical results have renewed the interest in hyperthermia for the treatment of cancer for the past few years. Several experimental studies allowed better knowing the mechanisms of action of hyperthermia at the cellular and tissular level: direct cytotoxic effect of the temperature increase, potentialization through hyperthermia of the effects of ionizing radiation and of anticancerous chemotherapeutic drugs. There are many techniques for tissue heating: local hyperthermia with external applicators (microwaves, radiofrequencies, ultrasound) or with implanted interstitial heaters; regional hyperthermia produced by ultrahigh frequency, capacitive or resistive heating systems: or generalized hyperthermia. Superficial tumors have been the subject of studies on hyperthermic therapies for many years because they are accessible and their response to treatment can be appreciated objectively. The most widely used techniques inducing hyperthermia are 434 MHz, 915 MHz and 2450 MHz microwaves. The hyperthermia is maintained between 41.5 degrees C and 42.5 degrees C in average during 45 minutes. It can be used either alone or in combination with radiation therapy or chemotherapy. The most interesting superficial tumors to be heated are those with a high potential of local recurrence or local recurrence with a low potential of remote metastasizing, for which no conventional treatment (Surgery, radiation or chemotherapy) can reasonably be contemplated: local recurrence of breast cancer as permeation nodules in the thoracic wall, cutaneous recurrence of malignant melanoma, cutaneous, subcutaneous or cervical lymphatic recurrence of malpighian cancers of the head and neck. All the results confirm the feasibility and validity of the combination of hyperthermia with radiation therapy for the treatment of superficial recurring tumors not checked by conventional techniques.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Hyperthermia in the treatment of cancers]. 152 98

There are four classical forms of immunotherapy: active, adoptive, restorative, and passive, and perhaps a fifth form, cytomodulatory, the upregulation of tumor-associated and HLA antigens to make tumors more recognizable by the immune system. Our 5-year experience with low-dose cyclophosphamide (CY) (350 mg/m2) before low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2) (21.6 million IU/m2/d x 5 d/wk x 2 wk per course by IV bolus) is reviewed as an example of combination chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Twenty-six percent (10 of 39 evaluable patients) of patients with melanoma had major clinical responses; one other patient (2%) has had more than 48 months of response after a 40% regression of all tumors. Median survival was 18 months for responders and 8 months for the group as a whole. Eleven of 41 patients (27%) lived at least 12 months and four (10%) lived at least 2 years. Liver metastases regressed in 4 of 10 cases, with responses in lung, adrenal, skin, and lymph nodes but no bone. Toxicity was tolerable. A correlation between cytolysis of lymphocytes against a natural killer-resistant melanoma cell line (LAK-like activity) was found, but the role of LAK cells in vivo remains uncertain. No effect was noted in 15 patients with renal cancer, but regressions of breast cancer were found in a shortened trial with 13 patients. While the necessity for CY has not been established in these studies, the regimen of CY + IL-2 as it stands appears to have some clinical efficacy in at least two cancers.
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PMID:Chemotherapy in combination with biomodulation: a 5-year experience with cyclophosphamide and interleukin-2. 155 79

Recent progress in elucidating the complex and heterogeneous interactions between malignancy and coagulation or fibrinolysis reactions in humans has clarified the pathogenesis of disseminated intravascular coagulation that occurs with malignancy and has revealed evidence for two distinct pathways of growth regulation based on production by tumor cells of initiators of thrombin formation versus plasminogen activators. We have proposed a preliminary classification of tumors (see Table 2) based on these interactions. Type I tumors are those in which the tumor cells are associated with an intact coagulation pathway that leads to thrombin formation at the tumor periphery but in which the tumor cells lack u-PA. Examples of tumors in this category include SCCL, malignant melanoma, and renal cell carcinoma. Type II tumors are those in which the tumor cells express u-PA but lack an associated coagulation pathway leading to thrombin formation. Examples of type II tumors include prostate cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, and N-SCLC. Type III tumors are those that express neither of these pathways, or exhibit some other pattern of interaction. Obviously, this formulation must be regarded as hypothetical. However, this concept fits with the limited data available to date from clinical trials. More importantly, this hypothesis can be tested further by means of intervention aimed at interrupting pathways relevant to specific tumor types. Characterization of additional tumor types by the methods described should permit amplification of this classification of tumors and other patterns of interaction may be defined. Exploration of the coagulation-cancer interaction holds considerable promise for gaining new understanding of both the coagulation mechanism and tumor biology. Most intriguing is the prospect that imaginative approaches to cancer treatment may be devised that are not only relatively nontoxic and low cost, but also effective.
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PMID:Pathways of coagulation/fibrinolysis activation in malignancy. 157 11

The growth and metastatic behavior of three human tumor cell lines and a human colon carcinoma previously passaged in vivo were compared between nude mice and scid mice after xenotransplantation. The three human tumor lines included a bladder carcinoma (T24B), a melanoma (RPMI 7931) and a lacZ gene-transduced breast cancer (MDA-MB-435 BAG). The lacZ gene codes for beta-galactosidase, which can be stained blue with chromogenic substrate X-gal, thus allowing the highly sensitive detection and quantitative examination of human cancer metastasis in host mice. Adult (7-14 weeks) NMRI nude and C.B-17 SCID mice were inoculated with 0.5-5 x 10(6) tumor cells s.c. Comparable take rate, latent period and growth rate of implanted tumors were observed in nude and scid mice for each of the cell lines tested. At the time of autopsy, which varied from 6 to 11 weeks after inoculation, a significantly higher incidence of spontaneous lung metastasis was discovered in scid mice (96%) than in age-matched nude mice (27%, total P less than 0.001). In vitro assays for NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity revealed no significant differences between the two strains of mice. Our results suggest that nude and scid mice are equally suitable for propagating human tumors. However, the metastatic capacity of human tumor cells appears to be better expressed in scid mice. Scid mice may therefore provide an advantageous model for the study of human tumor metastasis.
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PMID:Comparative studies between nude and scid mice on the growth and metastatic behavior of xenografted human tumors. 158 90

Since 1983, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has collected data by means of its Cancer Information Service (CIS), a toll-free telephone helpline for health care professionals and members of the public who have questions about cancer treatment, diagnosis, and prevention. These data reveal information about the characteristics of callers and their questions and about how inquiries reflect mass media promotions and secular trends. A request for a publication is the most common type of inquiry, followed by information about specific cancer sites, smoking prevention and cessation, other types of prevention, cancer treatment, cancer symptoms, referrals to physicians, NCI clinical trials, hospital and clinic-based screening programs, and general counseling or coping. Breast cancer is the most common cancer of interest, followed by respiratory system cancers, colon and prostate cancers, leukemia, melanoma, nonHodgkin's lymphoma, cervical cancer, general or unspecified skin cancer, and ovarian cancer. Responding to these other caller inquiries, CIS counselors may proactively guide callers to a desirable goal, such as screening mammography. Protocols have been developed to assist counselors' proactive efforts, and preliminary results are beginning to support this approach. The findings gathered in this study underscore the health education potential of telephone helplines and point to the need for controlled evaluation research on the effectiveness of proactive counselor advice.
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PMID:Cancer prevention counseling on telephone helplines. 159 37

Reviewing the treatment perspectives with chemo- and immunotherapy in carcinomas and sarcomas to be treated by general or orthopedic surgeons, the following indications are regarded as recommendable: Adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy with radiation in anal carcinoma and neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy of high-grade malignant osteosarcoma. Isolation perfusion currently is the treatment of choice in melanoma metastasis limited to an extremity. With several indications, recent developments have produced promising results that should be urgently confirmed in appropriate studies. Therefore the following studies have a high priority: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in esophageal carcinoma and in locally advanced breast and stomach cancer, adjuvant chemoimmunotherapy in colon carcinoma UICC III and chemoradiation in rectal carcinoma UICC II and III, systemic chemotherapy of metastasized stomach-, colorectal-, breast cancer and sarcomas. Isolated non-resectable liver metastases of colorectal origin and hepatocellular carcinoma should be included in studies evaluating the treatment advantage of regional chemotherapy. Those malignant "surgical" tumors not listed above should receive chemotherapy within experimental studies, after consideration of individual risk factors, or no chemotherapy. Immunotherapy with its various modalities is still in the experimental stage.
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PMID:[What is confirmed in chemo- and immunotherapy of solid tumors. Standard protocols, studies and new developments]. 160 55

The National Biotherapy Study Group (NBSG) conducted a broad phase II trial using interleukin-2 (IL-2) by continuous infusion and alpha interferon (IFN) subcutaneously in 267 patients with a variety of advanced cancers, including 29 with breast cancer, 89 with renal cancer, and 69 with melanoma. IL-2 [18 million international units (MIU)/m2] was given by continuous infusion for 108 hours with 3 mu/m2 subcutaneous IFN every other day during the IL-2 infusion. The patients were treated for 1 week followed by a 2-week rest. After two cycles of treatment, patients were evaluated for response. Of the 237 patients evaluable for response, 20 (8%) had a complete or partial response and 128 (54%) were stable. Therefore, 62% of the evaluable patients were nonprogressive during the first 90 days of IL-2/IFN therapy. The objective response rate was 11% in melanoma, 7% in renal cancer, 14% in breast cancer, and 3% in patients with a variety of malignancies for an overall response rate of 7% in these patients with advanced cancer. The patients were treated on a general medical ward and tolerated treatment well with fatigue and fever being nearly universal. Dyspnea, pruritus, chills, and elevated creatinines were frequent but less common. This combination biotherapy regimen has minimal activity in a variety of advanced cancers and must be compared with the best existing chemotherapy for each cancer type in randomized, prospective trials.
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PMID:Combination biotherapy utilizing interleukin-2 and alpha interferon in patients with advanced cancer: a National Biotherapy Study Group Trial. 162 72

Since hormones relate to the etiology of breast cancer, 40 studies have looked at the possible association of oral contraceptives (OCs) with breast cancer. Most research conducted through 1986 and including the largest related case control study and several after 1986 found no association between ever use of OCs and breast cancer. On the other hand, some studies conducted after 1986 with women 45 years old who had breast cancer and had taken OCs have suggested a dose response relationship, 2 fold increased risk of breast cancer, or increased risk with duration of OC use. These results motivated several organizations to review the literature and to issue guidelines. The US Food and Drug Administration, the UK Committee on the Safety of Medicines, and IPPF did not find a reason to change practices. The Committee on the Safety of Medicines did suggest, however, that health providers mention the possible increase in risk. At least 8 studies have revealed an increased risk of cervical cancer with duration of OC use, especially after 5 years of use. Yet experience has disclosed an obstacle to understanding the relationship between cervical cancer and OC use--cervical cancer may be caused by the human papilloma virus transmitted by sexual intercourse. Unlike results of breast and cervical cancer research, research results have clearly established that OC use lowers the risk of endometrial cancer by about 50% and the risk of ovarian cancer by about 40%. In fact, the US Cancer and Steroid Hormone [CASH] study showed a protective effect of OCs for endometrial and ovarian cancers at least 15 years after discontinuation. Even though some studies found a dose response effect with duration of use, a large international study did not find any relationship between OC us and liver cancer. Moreover studies did not reveal an association between OC use and malignant melanoma or pituitary adenoma.
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PMID:Neoplastic effects of oral contraceptives. 167 77

Taxol is a new anti-cancer drug that is a natural product derived from the bark of the Pacific Yew tree. The drug promotes polymerization and stabilization of tubulin to microtubules and interferes with the mitotic spindle. Clinical trials indicate that taxol is effective in the treatment of patients with refractory ovarian cancer, breast cancer, malignant melanoma and probably other solid tumors. Toxicities include anaphylactoid reactions, leukopenia, peripheral neuropathy and oropharyngeal mucositis. Increased supplies of the drug are required to support further phase II and III testing.
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PMID:Taxol: a new and effective anti-cancer drug. 168 6

Concerns over the safety of oral contraceptives (OCs) have led to numerous empirical studies of the relationship of OC use to normal pregnancy outcomes, pituitary effects, cardiovascular accidents, and cancer. The article reviews some of the results of studies on the effects of OC use on ovarian, uterine, cervical, and breast cancer and on hepatic cancer and melanomas. Reference is made to direct study results rather than to reviews of studies, although it is noted that the critical reviews of Goldzieher and Realini reflect appropriate critiques of the validity of the methods employed in the analysis of cancers as well as cardiovascular risks. Concern is raised for meta-analysis of pooled data. In spite of the 30 years of research on OCs there is no definitive answer to the question of cause and effect. The epidemiological articles reviewed do not meet the standards of critical editorial review boards of experimental journals; confirmation of findings is also lacking. Studies suggesting increased risks as well as those showing positive benefits are questionable. The conclusion reached is that OCs protect against ovarian and uterine cancers and do not cause mammary, cervical, or liver cancer or melanoma. This conclusion is based on inconclusive data. The conclusion on hepatic cancer is that the 3 retrospective case control studies and anecdotal reports are flawed in design, and little confidence can be placed on such a limited number of cases. Malignant melanoma conclusions are that the data are inconsistent and hover around a risk of one for long-term OC-users. There is no increased risk related to OC-use. Ovarian cancer risk seems to be decreased in about 40% of OC-users. Endometrial cancer risk seems to be decreased, except for the sequential contraceptive Oracon which is associated with increased risk. Decreased risk is related to length of usage and continues after stoppage. Cervical carcinoma results appear to confirm the finding that prolonged OC use slightly increases the risk, but confounding factors may be present. Breast cancer shows no association with OC use, but inconsistent data among subgroups, particularly young women who used OCs before their first birth, some increased risks show.
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PMID:Oral contraceptives and cancer. 168 3


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