Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0025202 (melanoma)
 69,561 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A 77-year-old white man with 64 intracutaneous melanoma metastases and a pulmonary metastatic deposit was treated with immunotherapy. Over an 8-month period, 17 intracutaneous lesions were inoculated with BCG. All 17 injected lesions and all 47 uninjected intracutaneous lesions resolved; no new nodules appeared and the pulmonary metastasis regressed (greater than 50%). This is the first documented case of a pulmonary metastatic focus responding to intralesional BCG therapy of intracutaneous metastases.
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PMID:Regression of pulmonary metastatic disease associated with intralesional BCG therapy of intracutaneous melanoma metastases. 117 29

An isolated metastasis of malignant melanoma to the urinary bladder of a patient was sucessfully eradicated by transurethral intralesional injection of BCG. Total destruction of the tumor was confirmed by subsequent excision. Lymphocyte blastogenesis studies revealed no significant alteration in immunocompetence secondary to the therapy, except for an increased responsiveness to PPD. There was no evidence of presence of blocking factors following therapy; cytotoxicity against MLA-14 melanoma cells sharply increased after the intralesional injection. Humoral antimelanoma antibody levels, determined by complement fixation, were decreased before the intralesional therapy, but increased markedly immediately following the transurethral BCG injection.
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PMID:Successful transurethral intralesional BCG therapy of a bladder melanoma. 119 56

The effects of active specific immunization with nonirradiated autologous and irradiated cultured allogeneic melanoma tumor cells (TC) on cell-associated immunity was studied in 11 patients with widespread malignant melanoma receiving chemoimmunotherapy. Immunization with 1 X 10(6)-8 X 10(7) TC was done in the draining area of a BCG scarification on day 7 of the study. The in vitro lymphocyte blastogenic response (BR) to autologous TC was studied in terms of the stimulation index on day 1, 7, 14, and 21. The stimulation index (SI) was the counts per min (cpm) in the TC stimulated culture minus the cpm among the TC alone divided by the cpm in the unstimulated controls. A positive BR was considered as a SI equal to or greater than 3. Six out of 11 patients had a significant increase in BR lasting 7-14 days after immunization. The pre- to post-immunization changes in the SI of the 6 patients were 2.5 to 7.5; 0.7 to 3.2; 0 to 5.2; 0 to 16; 0.1 to 6.6; and 6.5 to 30.0. Nine out of 11 patients showed a delayed local inflammatory reaction at the immunization site. Five out of 11 patients mounted a cutaneous delayed hypersensitivity reaction to autologous tumor cells at a separate test site following immunization. There were no side effects. Active specific immunization in the drainage of a BCG reaction appears to be safe. Since a positive BR to autologous TC correlates with a good prognosis in patients with solid tumors, studies of the immunotherapeutic efficacy of this approach may be warranted.
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PMID:Active specific immunization in malignant melanoma. 123 35

Cell mediated immunocompetence was measured serially in 35 patients with malignant melanoma in order to determine the effect of extent of disease and prognosis as well as the influence of BCG immunotherapy on immune reactivity. Compared with normal adult controls, statistically significant lymphopenia occurred only in patients with widespread disease. Seventeen of 21 patients with negative pre-therapy PPD skin test converted to skin test positivity. PHA blastogenesis was depressed only in patients in the pre-terminal stages of their disease using optimal mitogen concentrations for stimulation. Threshold concentrations of this mitogen more clearly demonstrated a depressed responsiveness which correlated in severity with extent of disease. PPD induced blastogenesis was normal or increased in the majority of patients; however, the degree of stimulation by PPD was less in the BCG induced convertors than in those patients who were skin test positive before BCG treatment. Comparison of the pre- and post BCG assessments reveals no significant differences except in relation to PPD conversion. We conclude that using threshold concentrations of PHA, impaired responses are regularly associated with disease beyond the regional lymph nodes. Routine assessment of lymphocyte function by these parameters did not provide information that was not available from clinical evaluation.
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PMID:Cellular immunocompetence in melanoma: effect of extent of disease and immunotherapy. 123 77

Despite current surgical therapy, about 80 per cent of patients with malignant melanoma metastatic to lymph nodes succumb to systemic metastatic disease. To determine if postoperative adjuvant immunization with BCG was an effective systemic treatment in these patients with microscopic subclinical metastatic disease, the clinical course of 42 patients treated by operation alone was compared with that of 84 treated by operation and BCG. At two years, the incidence of metastasis in BCG-treated patients was half that of the control group. BCG was more effective in patients with a smaller tumor burden at the time of initial surgical treatment. In patients receiving BCG adjuvant therapy, 90 per cent with microscopic disease in one lymph node appeared free of disease as compared to 40 per cent with macroscopic disease in multiple nodes. In patients with recurrences, an immunotherapeutic effect was demonstrated by a delay of six months in the time to recurrence. Thus, BCG immunotherapy appears to have an inhibiting effect on the "micrometastases" of malignant melanoma.
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PMID:Adjuvant immunotherapy with BCG in treatment of regional-lymph-node metastases from malignant melanoma. 124 48

We evaluated the potential of the B16 melanoma of mice as a model system for BCG immunotherapy of malignant melanoma. We studied a variety of treatment protocols: a) BCG given simultaneously but separately with a small number of B16 cells significantly inhibited tumor growth in only three of eight experiments. b) BCG injected directly into the tumor stimulated tumor growth in three of three experiments; the stimulation was at least partially attributable to the nutrient medium in which the BCG was suspended. c) The B16 tumor was weakly immunogenic and the addition of BCG to a tumor cell vaccine offered little improvement in subsequent resistance to tumor cell challenge: d) In a model of postsurgical residual tumor, metastatic to regional lymph nodes, BCG and tumor cell vaccination did not alter the development of nodal metastases. The B16 melanoma was not a useful model system for BCG immunotherapy, because the tumor inhibition was feeble, inconsistent, and not associated with augmented tumor immunity.
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PMID:Inconsistent response of B16 melanoma to BCG immunotherapy. 125 99

Perusal of the literature revealed that until 1970, 13 children with malignant melanoma of the head and neck had been reported. This group includes two cases of melanoma that developed in a giant cell nevus, as well as one case of congenital melanoma. The biologic features of prepubertal melanoma appear basically analogous to those of the adult variety. Malignant melanoma of the auricle is described in a 2 1/2-year-old child. Surgical therapy was given, and BCG vaccination was used as an adjuvant. The patient is alive and free of signs of the disease 2 1/2 years following the operation. This appears to be the third reported case of malignant melanoma of the external ear in a child.
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PMID:Malignant melanoma of the head and neck in children. Review of the literature and report of a case. 126 10

Treatment of recurrent cutaneous melanoma nodules with BCG is an effective and relatively nonmorbid method for eliminating these tumor nodules. Injected nodules can be made to disappear about 90 per cent of the time and in about 20 per cent of patients non-injected nodules in the same drainage area may also regress. Subcutaneous melanoma nodules are far more resistant to melanoma injection. Although cutaneous nodules can be made to regress there is no evidence that a systemic effect against disseminated melanoma exists and no responses of distant visceral disease have been seen following intralesional therapy of cutaneous nodules. The regression of cutaneous nodules following BCG injection appears to be an immunologic phenomenon and is related to the immunocompetence of the patient. The molecular mechanisms of this tumor regression are unknown and are the subject of intensive study. Several new approaches such as the use of BCG for the treatment of poor prognosis primary malignant melanomas, as well as the use of nonviable, nonbacteriologic agents for intralesional treatment are under investigation.
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PMID:Intralesional immunotherapy of melanoma with BCG. 127 87

Results of our study suggest that BCG systemic adjuvant immunotherapy may be effective for improving both the recurrence and survival rates in patients with regional metastases from malignant melanoma. BCG is more effective in patients with small amounts of subclinical disease. It is apparent from results of clinical trials that many of the principles derived from the study of animal tumor systems are applicable to human cancer in that immunotherapy is most effective for a small residual number of tumor cells. BCG treatment fulfills many of the ideal criteria for adjuvant treatment following surgery. It is relatively nontoxic; it is effective for disseminated melanoma; it has systemic activity in the adjuvant treatment of subclinical metastases. Hwever, until clinical trials are complete, this treatment as adjuvant therapy must be considered investigational.
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PMID:BCG immunotherapy as a systemic adjunct to surgery in malignant melanoma. 127 88

The hazards and complications of BCG immunotherapy, as well as the potential for enhanced tumor growth, make it imperative that the clinician know the clinical setting in which BCG can offer therapeutic benefit. This would include the intratumor injection of localized intradermal tumor deposits of melanoma and breast cancer, chemoimmunotherapy with BCG to prolong remission in acute myelogenous leukemia, and possibly the use of BCG as an adjuvant to control minimal residual disease. Aside from these situations, it is advisable to treat patients only on clearly defined experimental protocols.
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PMID:Hazards and complications of BCG immunotherapy. 127 90


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