Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0278488 (metastatic breast cancer)
 7,812 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

One hundred and fourteen evaluable patients with metastatic breast cancer were treated with a program consisting of 5-FU, Adriamycin, cyclophosphamide (FAC) and nonspecific immunotherapy with Levamisole. The results of this treatment program were compared to those observed with FAC and Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) and FAC chemotherapy alone, both groups treated prior to the study reported in this paper. The overall response rates and complete response rates for all three treatment regimens were identical. The duration of remission, survival of all patients and survival of responders was similar for both chemoimmunotherapy regimens, being superior to the FAC chemotherapy alone group. Immunotherapy with Levamisole was well tolerated and side-effects were experienced by less than one-fourth of the patients. Overall, Levamisole was better tolerated than BCG and was easier to administer than the latter drug. These results suggest than nonspecific immunotherapy with Levamisole might prolong remission and survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer. Since the results achieved with BCG and Levamisole appear similar, the therapeutic ratio favors the use of Levamisole.
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PMID:Combined chemoimmunotherapy for advanced breast cancer: a comparison of BCG and levamisole. 42 16

Seventy-nine patients with metastatic breast cancer underwent examination of their bone marrow as part of their staging workup. Thirty-one (39%) showed no evidence of bone marrow involvement (BM-); 48 (61%) were found to have bone marrow metastases (BM+). Both groups of patients were treated with intensive chemotherapy with 5-FU, Adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and nonspecific immunotherapy with BCG, methanol extraction residue, or Levamisole. The groups were comparable in age, race, menopausal status, and disease-free interval; however, the BM+ group had a higher proportion of patients with dominant osseous disease and a somewhat lower overall tumor burden. Ten of 21 patients in the BM+ group treated with 100% of the calculated dose of chemotherapy are still alive, compared with only three of 27 patients treated with lower doses. A similar dose response was observed in the BM- group. Myelosuppression was more common and more severe in the BM+ group. Hematologic support, i.e., packed erythrocytes and platelet transfusions, was required in 60% of BM+ patients, as opposed to 26% of BM-. Infectious complications were also higher in the BM+ group, in which five episodes of sepsis and two infectious deaths were observed. These results suggest that metastatic breast cancer patients with bone marrow invasion achieve excellent palliation with aggressive high-dose chemotherapy. Higher morbidity requiring aggressive supportive care suggests that these patients should be treated by physicians and centers experienced in their management.
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PMID:Combination chemotherapy for breast cancer metastatic to bone marrow. 723 95