European Journal of Cancer & Clinical Oncology

We must still maintain the conventional advice that unopposed low dosages of oestrogen should not be used for the treatment of menopausal symptoms in women treated previously for breast cancer. There is, however, epidemiological, laboratory and clinical evidence that certain combinations of oestrogen and progestagen are more likely to be beneficial than harmful, in respect to the risk of reactivating subclinical residual breast cancer or causing progression in premalignant lesions. It is no longer justifiable to deprive a woman with a history of breast cancer treatment of a hormonal therapy capable of safely relieving symptoms which are making her life intolerable...

Thirty-eight patients with advanced resistant cancers were enrolled on this study of piritrexim (PTX; BW 301U) administered intravenously weekly for 4 weeks. Of 50 courses of treatment begun, 39 evaluable 4-week courses of the drug were completed by this group of patients. Dosages ranged from 44 to 530 mg/m2/week. One patient at each dosage level received an initial weekly dose of PTX in oral form accompanied by pharmacokinetic blood sampling after the oral dose and also after a subsequent intravenous dose...

The effect of three acridine derivatives, 9-aminoacridine (9AA), 4'-(9-acridinylamino)-methanesulphon-O-anisidide (O-AMSA) and quinacrine were compared in their ability to protect against the cytotoxicity of amsacrine, 9-[[2-methoxy-4-[(methylsulfonyl)amino]phenyl]amino)-N,5-dimethyl-4- acridine-carboxamide (CI-921), N-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]acridine-4-carboxamide (AC), etoposide, mitoxantrone and doxorubicin. Cytotoxicity was measured in vitro by clonogenic survival assay and in vivo by life extension assays...

Enlargement of tumour masses with a fall or no change in tumour marker levels was noted in eight of 287 patients during chemotherapy for NSGCT at the Charing Cross and Mount Vernon Hospitals between 1977 and 1988. These eight patients had elements of differentiated teratoma in the primary specimen and in five the enlarging masses showed cystic change on CT scan. The increase in tumour mass occurred within 6 months of starting treatment. At surgery, four patients were found to have differentiated teratoma and have been followed for 15 months to 5 years without relapse...

Doxifluridine, a new fluoropyrimidine analog, was administered to 21 patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma. The starting dose was 1.0 g/m2 given over 24 h for 90 consecutive days as a continuous infusion. Due to severe skin reactions (hand-foot syndrome), the dose was reduced stepwise to 0.75 g/m2/day. Twenty patients were evaluable for efficacy, one had an early non-toxic death. Seven out of 20 (35%) showed a partial response; disease stabilization was observed in 10 patients (50%) and three showed progressive disease after 3 months of treatment...

The estrogen receptor content in 100 female breast carcinomas was determined using the biochemical dextran-coated charcoal (DCC) method and the monoclonal estrogen receptor immunocytochemical assay (ER-ICA). Great care was taken to make procedures optimal in order to minimize preanalytical errors. A statistically highly significant correlation was found between the results of the two methods, which were qualitatively in accordance in 91 cases, while nine gave a negative ER-ICA but a weak positive DCC result...

A monoclonal antibody, against a colorectal carcinoma tumour-associated antigen, was radioiodinated and its biodistribution studied in comparison with that of control immunoglobulin in nude mice with colon carcinoma xenografts. Tumour localization of the antibody in comparison with normal tissues was poor, and in absolute terms more control IgG than antibody was present per gram of tumour. This failure to achieve localization could not be ascribed to poor immunoreactivity of the antibody nor to the failure of the xenografts to express the appropriate antigen...

Viral infections are of increasing importance in the compromised host, particularly herpesvirus infections. Both intravenous and oral acyclovir are effective in preventing reactivation of herpes simplex virus infection; oral regimens are less expensive but compliance may be problematic. Varicella zoster virus reactivation can be suppressed for 6-12 months after marrow transplant using oral acyclovir, although infection may occur at the usual rate when prophylaxis is stopped. Intravenous acyclovir given for 30 days after marrow transplant reduced cytomegalovirus disease by 50%...

Between 1982 and 1987 a prospectively randomized trial of sequential hemibody irradiation (SHBI) (A), a non-cross-resistant chemotherapy drug combination (B) and local and/or locoregional radiotherapy (C) in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) was conducted. Previously untreated patients with extensive SCLC were randomized into three arms: A = 31 patients, B = 37, C = 31. In the chemotherapy combination, the following were used: etoposide, doxorubicin, methotrexate (VAM) and procarbacine, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, lomustine (POCC) and prophylactic cranial irradiation (30 Gy)...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Cytidine, a non-toxic endogenous nucleoside, was found unexpectedly to augment the cytotoxicity of a pyrimidine antimetabolite N-phosphonacetyl-L-aspartate (PALA) in human ovarian carcinoma cells. The PALA/cytidine synergy is confirmed here in other human tumor cells (T242 melanoma, HL60 promyelocytic leukemia and SKOV3 ovarian carcinoma) in the cytidine concentration range of 1-10 micromolar. The synergy was not observed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Exogenous uridine (5-50 microM) completely reversed the PALA/cytidine cytotoxicity in a concentration-dependent manner...

Fifty-eight Hong Kong Chinese patients with CNS lymphoma were reviewed (primary seven, secondary 51). The incidence of secondary CNS lymphoma in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was estimated to be 9.4%. The Working Formulation separated subtypes which had a special propensity to involve the CNS. Significant proportions of our patients with secondary CNS lymphoma had other features which were known to be associated with a high risk of CNS disease including stage IV (48/51, 91.4%), bone marrow (26/51, 50...

In 263 patients with stage I breast cancer, i.e. tumour less than 5 cm in diameter, no invasion of skin and deep fascia, and no involvement of axillary lymph nodes, X-rays of the chest were performed at 6, 12 months and yearly thereafter to the 6th year or until recurrence, another cancer was detected, the patient refused further follow-up or died. Among 1599 examinations, in only 0.25% (four patients) were unsuspected malignant changes observed. Due to this low cost/benefit ratio a fixed routine schedule of repeated chest X-rays in stage I cancer patients, otherwise apparently free of disease, is not justified...

N-[2-(Dimethylamino)ethyl]acridine-4-carboxamide (AC; NSC 601316) is a chemically novel antitumour agent which is thought to interact with DNA topoisomerase II and which has DNA binding properties which are distinct from other acridine derivatives such as amsacrine and its disubstituted analogue CI-921. AC is one of the most active agents, experimental or clinical, against the Lewis lung carcinoma in mice. AC is the first acridine derivative in our hands to show higher activity against cultured Lewis lung cells than against leukaemia lines...

Carbetimer, a low molecular weight polymer derived from ethylene and maleic anhydride, belongs to a class of chemical compounds different from previously available anticancer agents. It has shown moderate antitumor activity against the Madison 109, Lewis lung, colon 26 and M5076 ovarian carcinomas. In the human tumor stem cell assay, antitumor activity was seen against carcinomas of the breast, ovary, lung, colon and kidney. A total of 26 patients with solid tumors were entered into this trial; carbetimer was given on 5 consecutive days as a 1-2-h intravenous infusion...

Forty patients with retroperitoneal metastasis from nonseminomatous testicular cancer treated with chemotherapy were retrospectively studied to (1) evaluate the predictive value of mass size as detected by computerized tomography (CT) as an indicator for postchemotherapy surgery and (2) determine the factors that influence relapse. Patients received two further courses of chemotherapy after their serum biomarkers became normal and computed tomography indicated a complete response or presence of a residual but stable mass...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

A complete resolution of spinal epidural metastases following systemic therapy, consisting of chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy, is reported in four patients with breast carcinoma. Remissions were of substantially longer duration than previous remissions induced by radiotherapy. Single systemic therapy is an underestimated way of treatment for spinal epidural metastases. This way of treatment should be considered when radiotherapy has failed. Under certain circumstances it might even be considered as primary treatment...

A potential mechanism is described by which a growth factor may prevent the action of antiestrogens or reactive the growth of hormone-responsive breast carcinoma in patients undergoing tamoxifen (TAM) treatment. Epidermal growth factor (EGF)-stimulated growth (10(-8) M EGF) was assayed in the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line in the presence of various concentrations (10(-10) to 10(-6) M) of three antiestrogens, 4-hydroxytamoxifen (OH TAM), TAM and ICI 164384. In each case, the EGF-stimulated increases in DNA were not inhibited by the antiestrogen...