Reviews on Recent Clinical Trials - Volume 3, Issue 1, 2008

The current hot topics issue of RRCT focuses on immunotherapy of cancer, a field that seems to offer promises as the new, biological dimension in cancer treatment, but it is still in his early days. Immunotherapy involving interferons and monoclonal antibodies has now become part of standard cancer treatments and is considered the fourth pillar of therapy, beyond surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Other types of i Read More

Currently used targeted toxins are recombinant molecules specifically binding to surface receptors overexpressed on tumor cells. These recombinant proteins consist of a tumor-selective ligand coupled to a truncated peptide toxin. Ligands may bind to tumor-associated molecules with receptor signaling properties, such as epidermal growth factor receptor, transferrin receptor, and interleukin-13 or interleukin-4 re Read More

The prognosis for patients with malignant gliomas remains poor despite advances in surgical technique, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Median survival for glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive and deadliest form of brain cancer, remains only fifteen months even after optimal treatment with surgical resection followed by chemoradiation therapy. The grim prognosis can be attributed to the infiltrative na Read More

Rituximab is a mouse/human chimeric IgG1κ monoclonal antibody that targets the CD20 antigen found on the surface of malignant and normal B-lymphocytes. The mechanisms of action of rituximab involve complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC), complement-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (CDCC), antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and induction of apoptosis. Pharmacokinetic issues, tumor and mol Read More

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide with increasing incidence in the Western World. In contrast to most other malignancies, only surgical and local ablative therapeutic options have shown efficacy in patients with HCC. Systemic chemotherapy has failed to show a substantial benefit for these patients. Therefore, a number of immunotherapeutic trials have been performed to evalua Read More

SCLC represents 13% of all lung cancer cases and is the most aggressive form of lung cancer with an overall 5- year survival less than 5%. The combination of cisplatin or carboplatin with etoposide remains the standard treatment for SCLC. Despite a good initial response to therapy, most SCLC patients suffer from the development of chemotherapy resistance and relapse. Second-line chemotherapy should then be applied, Read More

Most of the conventional immunosuppressive drugs act by inhibiting the activation of enzymes, production of cytokines or proliferation of immune cells. Recently much attention is given to a new class of inhibitors that act by counteracting the functions of the lysophospholid sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). S1P is emerging as a potent stimulator of several immune cells and is critical for lymphocyte migration. The sphingosin Read More

Background: Biliary tract carcinoma is infrequent; usually majority of cases are detected in an advanced phase of the disease, thus surgical resection is not feasible and prognosis is poor, mean survival is 6 months and, chemotherapy is the main therapeutic option. Objective: An overall review of all clinical trials published regarding gemcitabine, alone or in combination, as a treatment in advanced biliary tract carcinoma. Read More