Cytokines and growth factors in the treatment of cancer
Mertelsmann, R.H., Finke, J., Kulmburg, P., Lange, W., Mackensen, A., Rosenthal, F.M., Veelken, H., Lindemann, A.
University Medical Center, Dept. of Hematology/Oncology, Hugstetter Str. 55, D-79106 Freiburg, Germany
The discovery and clinical evaluation of cytokines is having a rapidly increasing impact on cancer therapy by providing unprecedented opportunities for therapeutic modulation of hematopoiesis and the immune system. To facilitate chemotherapy dose intensification, colony stimulating factors (CSFs) together with peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPCs) have been shown to shorten the period of profound pancytopenia following high-dose chemotherapy. The second area of cancer therapy moving rapidly ahead following the discovery of cytokines and cytokine-mediated effector mechanisms is cancer immunotherapy. Given the fact that induction of anti-tumor immunity by cytokine gene transfer into tumor or bystander cells has been demonstrated by different groups in mouse tumor models, we have initiated a phase I clinical protocol for patients with refractory neoplasias. Hematopoietic and immunostimulating cytokines are beginning to have an impact on cancer treatment outcome. Not only cytokines themselves, but also cells mobilized by and grown ex vivo in the presence of cytokines as well as cells transfected with therapeutic genes of interest are being developed as novel therapeutic modalities.
| LOCATION |
DATE |
TIME |
| Lecture Hall II |
Tuesday, April 7 |
04:30 pm |