Articles: carcinoma-immunology.
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Immunotherapy targeting for the induction of a T-cell-mediated antitumor response in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) appears to hold significant promise. Here we describe a novel RCC vaccine strategy that allows for the concomitant delivery of dual immune activators: G250, a widely expressed RCC associated antigen; and granulocyte/macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), an immunomodulatory factor for antigen-presenting cells. The G250-GM-CSF fusion gene was constructed and expressed in Sf9 cells using a baculovirus expression vector system. ⋯ All FP-modulated peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures with antitumor activity showed an up-regulated CD3+CD4+ cell population. These results suggest that GM-CSF-G250 FP is a potent immunostimulant with the capacity for activating immunomodulatory DCs and inducing a T-helper cell-supported, G250-targeted, and CD8+-mediated antitumor response. These findings may have important implications for the use of GM-CSF-G250 FP as a tumor vaccine for the treatment of patients with advanced kidney cancer.
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There is an enhanced immune response in patients with breast cancer after the use of chemotherapy. The objective of this study was therefore to investigate alterations in the number of peripheral lymphocytes in patients with breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) and the relationship with prognosis. ⋯ Patients with advanced breast cancer showed increases in B and NK lymphocytes. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (FEC) caused an increase in CD3+CD56+ and a decrease in B lymphocytes. Patients with an increased CD4/CD8 ratio have a better chance of responding to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
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Am. J. Clin. Oncol. · Dec 1999
Squamous cell carcinoma antigen, circulating immune complexes, and immunoglobulins in monitoring squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck: a study of the hellenic co-operative oncology group (HeCOG).
This study investigates the clinical utility of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag), circulating immune complexes (CIC), and immunoglobulins (IgA, IgG, IgM) in the diagnosis, monitoring, and prognosis of 117 squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCC-HN) patients having local and/or systemic treatment. Serum marker levels were measured in a prospective study. SCC-Ag was positive in 28.2% of patients, the CIC in 63.2%, the IgA in 11.1%, the IgG in 15.4%, and the IgM in 9.44%. ⋯ Using a Cox proportional hazards model the IgG serum values, the primary site, and the disease stage were significant predictors for time to progression. The significant decrease of SCC-Ag, IgA, and CIC values at the completion of treatment was correlated with an increased incidence of disease-free status. This study indicates that only the estimation of SCC-Ag and in some degree the IgM and/or IgG is a potential tool for monitoring the efficacy of treatment or disease recurrence in SCC-HN.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Sep 1999
Anti-Hu antibody titre and brain metastases before and after treatment for small cell lung cancer.
To follow up the level of anti-Hu antibody titres during chemotherapy and to compare the pattern of metastases and other neurological complications before and after chemotherapy in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with and without low titre anti-Hu antibodies. Seventeen per cent of patients with SCLC without paraneoplastic syndromes have a low titre of anti-Hu antibodies in their serum. Previous studies suggested that these antibodies correlate with a more indolent tumour growth. ⋯ No anti-Hu antibody positive serum, as tested by western blot, became negative during chemotherapy. Anti-Hu positive and anti-Hu negative patients had similar survival, but anti-Hu positive patients tended to be women, had limited disease at the time of tumour diagnosis, and initially metastases seemed to spare the nervous system.
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Chemotactic cytokines (chemokines) play an important role in the recruitment of lymphocytes to tissue by regulating cellular adhesion and transendothelial migration. This study examined the expression and function of CXC (human monokine induced by gamma-interferon [HuMig], interleukin-8 [IL-8], and interferon-inducible protein-10 [IP-10]) and CC (macrophage inflammatory protein-1alpha [MIP-1alpha], MIP-1beta, regulated upon activation normal T lymphocyte expressed and secreted (RANTES), and macrophage chemoattractant protein-1 [MCP-1]) chemokines and their respective receptors on lymphocytes infiltrating human liver tumors. Chemokine and chemokine receptor expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, in situ hybridization and ribonuclease (RNAse) protection assays and function by in vitro chemotaxis of tumor-derived lymphocytes to purified chemokines and to HepG2 tumor cell culture supernatants. ⋯ Thus, lymphocytes infiltrating human liver tumors express receptors for and respond to both CXC and CC chemokines. The relevant chemokine ligands are expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), particularly HuMig, which was strongly expressed by tumor endothelium, suggesting that they play a role in lymphocyte recruitment to these tumors in vivo. The ability of HepG2 cells to secrete lymphocyte chemotactic factors in vitro suggests that the tumor contributes to lymphocyte recruitment in vivo.