Current opinion in oncology
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With an estimated 170,000 new cases and 149,000 deaths in the United States during 1993, lung cancer is now the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women. Tobacco smoking is an important risk factor, and a large fraction of the risk can be attributed to it. ⋯ Prevention of lung cancer through early detection and identification of individuals at risk is the goal of many recent studies. This review summarizes the current status of epidemiologic and biomarker research in understanding both the etiology and prognostic utility of environmental and host factors.
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Results of clinical trials in bone marrow transplantation (BMT) patients have shown that morbidity associated with myelosuppressive chemo- or radiotherapy is reduced in patients receiving hematopoietic growth factors such as recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor or recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to speed neutrophil recovery, to reduce the severity and duration of infection, and to shorten hospital stays of patients with lymphoid malignancy who undergo autologous BMT. ⋯ Other hematopoietic growth factors, such as recombinant Human macrophage colony-stimulating factor, recombinant human interleukin (rhIL)-3, rhIL-3-GM-CSF (rh-PIXY 321), rhIL-6, rhIL-1, rhc-kit ligand (rh-KL), and erythropoietin (rh-EPO), are also being studied singly or in combination in patients undergoing BMT. The use of hematopoietic growth factors in marrow transplantation is reviewed.