V.A.Tarasov, M.V.Filatov, V.V.Stavrovietskiy, E.S.Pobegalov, K.K.Lezhnev, A.V.Koloskov, .G.Andreassian

COMBINED SURGERY WITH CONSECUTIVE IMMUNOTHERAPY

IN STAGE IV COLORECTAL CANCER

Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, St. Petersburg, Russia


IVth International Meeting "Immunological Approaches to Tumor Therapy"

Bonn, Germany

Abstracts Edited: University of Bonn, 1998. -  P. 28.


Stage IV colorectal cancer at the moment undergoes only palliative therapy. Our experience showes that, despite this opinion, in 80% cases of advanced colorectal cancer with distant metastases to lungs and liver it is possible to remove surgically both the primary tumour and the distant metastases.

53 patients underwent extended and combined radical surgery for stage IV colorectal cancer; 45 of them survived the early postoperative period. Considering insufficient effectiveness of postsurgical chemotherapy, we complemented it with a 3-month postoperative course of vaccinotherapy, using alive reproductively-inactivated autologous tumour cells in combination with ajuvants of bacterial, viral, or synthetic origin, aimed at activation of antitumourous cell imminity. Inductors of interpherone (Interleukin-2 and alpha-Interpherone) were used in addition.

The results of our work permit to consider that extended and combined radical surgery is successful in 85% patients with stage IV colorectal cancer. Combined surgery results in significant improvement of patients’ condition, which makes it possible to conduct effective postsurgical therapy. 60% patients were alive without signs of recurrency1 year, and 40% - 2 years after extended and combined surgery.

Our observations allow to conclude that effective immunotherapy may be complicated with 2 circumstances:

·  Predominant activation of humoral immune responce may lead to the socalled blocking effect induced by antibodies linked to the tumour, which might result in ineffectiveness of further immunotherapy. In this case, character of immune response needs to be corrected.

·  In some cases, autoimmune reactions may occur during vaccination, being accompanied by marked inflammatory process. To control the latter, which is necessary in these cases, we proposed an original, highly sensitive method to detect inflammation of different nature, which is based upon flow cytofluorometric registration of respiratory burst of peripheral blood neutrofiles (M V Filatov. Biochemical and Molecular Medicine 1995; 55; 116-21).


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