Anticancer research
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Anticancer research · Jul 2001
Dacarbazine DTIC and carboplatin as an outpatient treatment for disseminated malignant melanoma.
Occasionally long-term survival in disseminated melanoma can be obtained through chemotherapy. We treated 22 patients with disseminated melanoma with an outpatient regimen consisting of dacarbazine (DTIC) and carboplatin. Three patients had a complete response lasting 4+, 9 and 9 months (survival 4+, 10 and 16 months), respectively; 3 patients had a partial response lasting 4, 6 and 8 months (survival 6+, 11+ and 14 months), respectively. ⋯ Toxicity was relatively mild and mainly due to nausea. In 3 patients the dose of carboplatin was reduced because of grade 4 haematological toxicity. This described easy outpatient regimen shows comparable results as other polychemotherapeutic regimens in disseminated melanoma, but with a relatively mild toxicity profile.
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Anticancer research · May 2001
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialFrom codeine to transdermal fentanyl for cancer pain control: a safety and efficacy clinical trial.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, suitable for transdermal delivery, offering an interesting solution as a step 3 opioid in cancer pain treatment. The purpose of the study was to carefully investigate: 1) the feasibility of the direct conversion from codeine to TTS fentanyl, in patients already receiving codeine and requiring strong opioids for their analgesia; 2) the safety of 25 microg/hour incremental steps and at shorter than 72-hour intervals, if clinically required. ⋯ Under controlled conditions, TTS fentanyl seems to be feasible for direct conversion from mild to strong opioids and additionally, 25 microg/hour incremental steps day by day can be made by palliative care specialists, if clinically required for cancer pain management.
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Anticancer research · May 2001
Targeting of LAK activity to CEA-expressing tumor cells with an anti-CEA scFv/IL-2 fusion protein.
Fusion of tumor-specific monoclonal antibody (MAb) and cytokines has proved to be an efficient way to target cytokines to tumor cells and hence focuses the killing activity of effector cells to the target cells. We previously produced a high affinity MAb, F11-39, against carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), which is often overexpressed on the surface of various tumor cells. ⋯ This approach may be used for in vivo administration to localize IL-2 to tumor tissues, maximizing the immune response to CEA-expressing tumors while keeping systemic side effects to a minimum.
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Anticancer research · May 2001
Anticancer activity of an aqueous mistletoe extract (AME) in syngeneic murine tumor models.
Mistletoe extracts have been used for decades for non-specific stimulation of the immune system in cancer therapy. Mistletoe lectins (ML) have been identified as the active principle with cytotoxic and immunomodulatory potencies. In the present in vivo experiments, the anticancer effects of an aqueous mistletoe extract (AME) were investigated in different subcutaneously growing syngeneic murine tumors such as Renca renal cell carcinoma, C8 colon 38 carcinoma, F9 testicular carcinoma, B16 melanoma and Lewis lung carcinoma. ⋯ No inhibitory effects were seen with the Lewis lung carcinoma and B16 melanoma under the conditions described above. In conclusion, AME showed in vivo anticancer activity in different transplantable syngeneic murine tumor models following repeated parenteral treatment. In view of the low dose levels used, the effects are most likely due to the immunostimulatory rather than to the cytotoxic potencies of AME.
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Anticancer research · Mar 2001
Multicenter Study Clinical TrialMulti-center study of two dose levels of paclitaxel with carboplatin in locally advanced and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The efficacy and toxicity of the combination of two cytotoxic compounds that are active as single agents in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), paclitaxel (Taxol) and carboplatin (Paraplatin) was investigated in a multicenter, community-based setting. ⋯ In this multicenter study, the combination of paclitaxel and carboplatin produced a moderate RR of 23.8% in stages IIIA/B & IV NSCLC. The therapy was generally well tolerated at both doses of paclitaxel. Myelosuppression, neurotoxicity and alopecia were the major therapy-related side-effects. The differences between the two paclitaxel dose cohorts with respect to activity and toxicity were minimal. The use of the Chatelut formula to calculate the carboplatin clearance is feasible, but might have lead to the apparent excess in myelotoxicity in our study compared to other studies which used other methods for estimating renal function.