Gynecologic oncology
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Gynecologic oncology · Oct 1995
Adrenal function following high-dose steroids in ovarian cancer patients.
Steroid doses similar to those used to prevent paclitaxel-associated hypersensitivity reactions and cisplatin-induced nausea have been associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis suppression. We assessed HPA function in patients receiving high-dose steroids as part of their chemotherapy regimen for epithelial ovarian cancer. ⋯ Current steroid regimens prescribed with chemotherapy transiently decrease HPA function, but do not appear to inhibit the HPA axis long term. HPA function may be suppressed for approximately 8 days from the commencement of chemotherapy cycles involving DEX. Patients presenting within the first 8 days of a chemotherapy cycle using steroids with symptoms attributable to HPA suppression may benefit from HPA axis testing.
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Gynecologic oncology · Oct 1995
Targeted eradication of ovarian cancer mediated by intracellular expression of anti-erbB-2 single-chain antibody.
Overexpression of the tyrosine kinase receptor erbB-2 is important in the pathogenesis of a variety of neoplasms including ovarian cancer. As a strategy to selectively eradicate erbB-2-overexpressing tumor cells, an anti-erbB-2 single-chain immunoglobin (sFv) gene was constructed to direct expression of intracellular anti-erbB-2 antibody. The purpose of this study is to establish the antitumorigenicity of this strategy in in vitro and in vivo models. ⋯ The ability to selectively "knock out" erbB-2 demonstrates that this strategy can induce a significant antineoplastic effect in ovarian cancer cells overexpressing this growth factor receptor. In addition, the ability to accomplish selective abrogation of erbB-2 expression in animal treatment models and to transfect and eradicate primary ovarian cancer cells justifies further investigation of this novel strategy in ovarian cancer patients.