Immunodiagnosis and Immunotherapy of Malignant Tumors: Relevance to Surgery

ISBN-13: 9783540091615 / Angielski / Miękka / 1979 / 331 str.

H. -D Flad; C. Herfarth; M. Betzler

Opis

The concept of immunologic responses against tumors is currently under intense scrutiny throughout the world. The evidence for the existence of tumor-specific transplantation antigens (TSTA) and specific immune reactions to them in experimental animals is overwhelming. The available data concerning human tumors are controversial. The reason for this is partially that antigens detectable on human tumors by in vitro assays have not been biologically characterized. In other words, we do not know if the antigens on human tumors are acting as the targets for immunologically mediated rejection processes in vivo. It was the purpose of this workshop to bring experimental tumor immunologists and clinical oncologists together in order to disclose facts and limits in tumor immunology. Clinicians were to learn how shaky the ground becomes once the experimentalist looks beyond the edge of the mouse cage. Tumor biologists heard the clinicians' urgent cry for controlled randomized trials of immunotherapy which thus reflects clearly that immunotherapy in its present form without knowledge of dose-effect-relationship does not work. Nobody would deny that the problem of human cancer smells of immunology, but since we are just about to taste it the essential ingredient might be different. In other words one might look at present rather at immunological epiphenomena than at mechanisms of tumor immul1lty operating in vivo. This problem was among others a central issue of this workshop.

Spis treści

I. Pathophysiologic Aspects of Tumor Development.- Cellular Kinetics of Malignant Tumors.- Fetal Patterns in Adult Rat Liver Undergoing Reparative and Neoplastic Growth.- Immunologic Studies on Rat Bowel Carcinomas.- Discussion.- II. Clinical Significance of Immunologic Tests for Tumor Diagnosis.- 1. Tumor-Associated Antigens.- Clinical Significance of Carcinofetal Antigens with Special Reference to CEA, AFP, and Related Substances.- Immunodiagnosis of Gastric Cancer and Related Diseases; Deletion, Neoantigen, and Nonspecific Factors.- Humoral and Cellular Immune Reactions to CEA.- Tumor-Associated Antigens in Bronchogenic Carcinoma.- Tumor-Associated Antigens and Immunity in Prostatic Carcinoma.- Expression of Tumor-Associated Surface Antigens and Their Correlation to Parameters of Malignancy in Human Malignant Melanoma.- Discussion.- 2. Cell-Mediated Immune Reactions.- Correlation Between Nonspecific Immune Competence and Clinical Outcome of Breast, Colon, and Stomach Cancer.- Immunocompetence Testing in Patients with One of the Common Operable Cancers — A Review.- Significance and Mechanism of T-Cell Depression in Cancer.- Cell-Mediated Immune Reactions in Patients with Colon Carcinoma.- Significance of Spontaneous Lymphocyte-Mediated Cytotoxicity (SLMC) in Cancer Patients and Control Persons.- Human Tumor-Lymphocyte Interaction in Vitro: Comparison of the Results With Autologous Tumor Stimulation (ATS) and Lymphocytotoxicity (ALC).- Lymphocyte Cytotoxicity in Melanoma Patients Undergoing Immunotherapy.- Prediction of Recurrent Melanoma by Variations in the Strength of Anti-Tumor Immunity.- Tumor Diagnosis Using Electrophoretic Mobility Test (EMT).- Discussion.- Discussion.- III. Immunotherapeutic Approaches.- The Role of Immunotherapy in the Treatment of Malignant Melanoma.- Tumor Immunotherapy — Experimental Evaluation and Clinical Prospects.- Adjuvant Immunotherapy of Stage II Malignant Melanoma: Autologous Tumor Antigen Plus BCG.- Search for the Role of Immunotherapy with Corynebacterium Parvum Intrapleurally in Operable Bronchial Non-Small-Cell Carcinoma The Ludwig Lung Cancer Collaborative Study Group.- Discussion.- Quantitative and Functional Studies of Lymphocyte Subpopulations During Adjuvant Chemo(immuno)therapy in Patients With Breast Cancer.- Discussion.- Interaction Between Levamisole and an Immunoregulatory Serum Component: Possible Mode of Action of Levamisole as an Immune Modulating Substance.- Role of an Immunoregulatory Serum Component in Human Mixed Lymphocyte Reaction.- Role of a Serum Component in Regulating the Growth of a Murine Lymphoma.- IV. Special Procedures in Cancer Therapy — Effects on the Immune Status.- Influence of Hyperthermia on the Immune Status: Experimental Basis and Clinical Application in Cancer Patients.- Immunologic Phenomena Induced by Hyperthermia in Normal and Tumor-Bearing Hosts and Their Relevance for Cancer Therapy.- Discussion.- Immunologic Phenomena Induced by Cryosurgery.- Clinical and Immunologic Results of Cryosurgery in Patients With Rectal Cancer.- Parenteral Hyperalimentation as an Adjunct to Cancer Therapy in Patients with Colorectal Tumors.- Discussion.- V. Summing Up.- Summing Up.