TY - JOUR
T1 - Active specific immunotherapy in colon cancer.
AU - van den Eertwegh, A. J.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality. After a series of clinical trials, the adjuvant 5-FU-based chemotherapy has established a definitive role in the management of stage III colon cancer. While the precise role for chemotherapy in stage II disease remains under investigation, less toxic treatment modalities such as active specific immunotherapy (ASI) have emerged as potentially attractive alternatives. In a randomized trial it was demonstrated that ASI, using autologous tumor cells and BCG, had a significant clinical benefit in the adjuvant treatment of stage II colon cancer. In addition, it was found that the delayed-type cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions (DTH) against autologous cells correlated significantly with survival, confirming its suitability for immunomonitoring. Nowadays, 5-FU-based chemotherapy is a standard treatment for stage III colon cancer and because there is preclinical evidence for synergism between chemotherapy and ASI, we performed a phase II study to investigate whether the combined treatment with 5-FU and ASI is tolerable and feasible. We demonstrated that 5-FU treatment hardly affected the DTH response against autologous tumor cells and that the combination treatment was well tolerated. A randomized phase III trial is now warranted to show that the combination of ASI and chemotherapy is superior to chemotherapy alone.
AB - Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality. After a series of clinical trials, the adjuvant 5-FU-based chemotherapy has established a definitive role in the management of stage III colon cancer. While the precise role for chemotherapy in stage II disease remains under investigation, less toxic treatment modalities such as active specific immunotherapy (ASI) have emerged as potentially attractive alternatives. In a randomized trial it was demonstrated that ASI, using autologous tumor cells and BCG, had a significant clinical benefit in the adjuvant treatment of stage II colon cancer. In addition, it was found that the delayed-type cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions (DTH) against autologous cells correlated significantly with survival, confirming its suitability for immunomonitoring. Nowadays, 5-FU-based chemotherapy is a standard treatment for stage III colon cancer and because there is preclinical evidence for synergism between chemotherapy and ASI, we performed a phase II study to investigate whether the combined treatment with 5-FU and ASI is tolerable and feasible. We demonstrated that 5-FU treatment hardly affected the DTH response against autologous tumor cells and that the combination treatment was well tolerated. A randomized phase III trial is now warranted to show that the combination of ASI and chemotherapy is superior to chemotherapy alone.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=18444417975&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27449-9_29
DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27449-9_29
M3 - Review article
C2 - 15865042
SN - 0080-0015
VL - 165
SP - 260
EP - 267
JO - Recent results in cancer research. Fortschritte der Krebsforschung. Progrès dans les recherches sur le cancer
JF - Recent results in cancer research. Fortschritte der Krebsforschung. Progrès dans les recherches sur le cancer
ER -