A revision of the most promising clinical assays suggest that immunotherapy is useful for a certain number of selected patients. Immunotherapy cannot be used alone for primary treatment of cancer, excepting perhaps as local immunotherapy for readily accessible tumors. The most important role of immunotherapy is to be found in combination with other kinds of therapy, considering that it may restrain effectively hidden micrometastases that are the cause of relapse and fatal outcome. However, it is necessary to recognize that immunotherapy has shown until now a limited therapeutic efficacy.
A revision of the most promising clinical assays suggest that immunotherapy is useful for a certain number of selected patients. Immunotherapy cannot be used alone for primary treatment of cancer, excepting perhaps as local immunotherapy for readily accessible tumors. The most important role of immunotherapy is to be found in combination with other kinds of therapy, considering that it may restrain effectively hidden micrometastases that are the cause of relapse and fatal outcome. However, it is necessary to recognize that immunotherapy has shown until now a limited therapeutic efficacy.
The authors analyze the past history, evolution and results of therapy in 71 cases of invasive cervical carcinoma seen between 1980 and 1984. They are comparable to those published in the world literature.
The author writes about some facts related to the use of 99m-Tc-phosphate in skeletal scanning, specially to recognize cancer metastases, and vascular and inflammatory osseous diseases, and indicates some conditions to carry out the study.
The effects of irradiation on the pulmonary system are analyzed according to the classical radiobiological theories and the new ones. Special emphasis is put on the lineal-quadratic model which predicts the possibility of a greater tumor control without increasing the damage to the normal lung tissue, based on the differences between the survival curves for acute and late effects of irradiation. The clinical applications of the new radiobiological concepts can be carried out in the treatment of lung cancer and other neoplasms, especially those using total body irradiation.
Lipid factors that inhibit cellular proliferation have been detected in MCG3 cells, a T lymphoma of B10 mouse. The inhibiting effect is cytostatic, non cytotoxic, reversible and lacks species and tissue-specificity. These lipids have been isolated by Thin Layer Chromatography (chloroform:methanol:water, 60:38:8) showing an Rf100 between 36 and 42, similar to that shown by gangliosides and phosphatidylinositol.
A study was carried out in 138 lung cancer patients from the Department of Radiology and Physiotherapy of the Faculty of Medicine of Cadiz between 1983 and 1986. The patients were classified according to the pathologic anatomy in order to analyze the statistical variations in relation to sex, localization, metastases, clinical stage and radiation therapy. The obtained results about the form of presentation and behavior of each one of the pathologic anatomy types of lung carcinoma agree in some aspects with other works that have been consulted, and may help the radiotherapists in their clinical and therapeutic approach.
The authors study 60 cases of invasive carcinoma of the cervix uteri belonging to several tumor stages. They analyze their past history, histology, lymph node invasion and symptomatology. The authors indicate the employed therapy and the five year survival rate, that was 82.3% for stage Ib tumors, 0% for stage IIA and 78.7% for stage IIB. The data for stage IIA are not significant statistically because the small number of the studied cases.
N-13A malignant ascitic hepatoma, induced by 4-dimethylaminoazobenzene in Wistar rats, does not produce distant mestastases when transplanted in vivo. The mixed co-cultures of N-13A tumor cells and several tissue explants of newborn Wistar rats show selective adhesivity between tumoral and hepatic epithelial cells, but not with fibroblast-like cells of nervous tissue, kidney or diaphragm. In short-term co-cultures, N-13A cells in contact with rat hepatocytes prepared by the collagenase perfusion technique, display a selective adherence capacity with the production of abundant microvilli and fingerlike protrusions (microspikes) which are elaborated by the neoplastic cells. Groups of tumoral cells tightly envelop the free surface of the cultured hepatocytes. Tight-junction formations are observed, and immature desmosomes and polydesmosomic systems are also seen between both tumoral and normal cells.
204 cases of invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix seen in the period 1972-1985 are studied. The incidence was higher from 50 to 69 years of age and maximum during the last years of the decade of the fifties. It was verified that the early beginning of sexual intercourse increases the number of cases and the age of presentation, and also that invasive uterine cervix cancer is more common in women with 3 or more pregnancies, while the incidence decreases in women with 1 or 2 pregnancies and specially in nulliparous virgins.
CIN I and CIN II can be treated by colposcopy-guided biopsy. Control examinations must be made every six months. Persistence of a CIN II lesion is an indication for conization. Some CIN III cases can be treated by conization, but considering the frequency of residual lesions and insufficient conization, a total hysterectomy is a safer procedure.
The study of 52 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia seen from 1980 to 1984 shows that early sexual activity increases the relative risk 3.35 times if the intercourse takes place before 20 years of age, and 2.5 times if before 15 years. The use of IUD increases the risk 2.77 times. Parity, civil status and gynecologic infections do not increase the risk. Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia is more frequently diagnosed in women with a higher socio-economic status, due to a better health care.
The value of seven tumor markers to differentiate preinvasive and invasive gynecologic tumors is studied. CEA beta -hCH. alpha -FP and alpha-glycoprotein/prealbumin quotient allow such differentiation, while TPA, LDH-V and PRL have no value as markers of the gynecologic tumors and to not distinguish between preinvasive and invasive tumors.
Seventy nine cases of in situ cervical carcinoma (CIN III) treated between 1977 and 1985 are studied. CIN III appears ten years before invasive cervical carcinoma, at a mean age of 42.8 years. Parity may be a risk factor by itself or reflect the precocity and frequency of sexual intercourse. The study confirms that most of the times the combination of vaginal cytology and colposcopy attained the diagnosis. The best therapeutical methods are conization and then total hysterectomy, depending on lesion localization, patient age and early needs. Very young patients with lesions that do not reach the endocervical region may be treated by CO2 laser or cryotherapy.
The Euglena alga culture modifications allow to distinguish between tumor serum and control serum. The modifications with ascites tumor AH 13R rat serum were also significatively different from healthy rat. These results suggest that this assay model could be applied for early cancer diagnostics. This communication is a summary of the 50 years work described on the bellow cited literature.
The authors study 567 medical histories of women with cancer of the uterine cervix. They describe the data in relation to epidemiology and cytology, colposcopy, and the procedure for an early diagnosis.
This work shows the indications, procedure, and usefulness of colposcopy in the early detection of cervical carcinoma. Colposcopy is very useful, and 20 per 100 of the false positive cases are generally corrected by the cytological study. The combined use of cytology and colposcopy attains the early diagnosis of most cases of preclinical carcinoma of the cervix.
In cancer process there have been found metabolic changes in several elements, especially in respect to copper. It has been proved that there is an alteration in the serum levels of some metals, and in their distribution in the proteins binding them. On the other hand, there exist, also, ceruloplasmin differences between patients serum and the control. Our work has been carried out to study the trace element metabolism in lung cancer, as well as chromium and zinc contents. Electrophoretic techniques have been applied to study the protein levels.
