Nonspecific adjuvant immunotherapy with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin cell wall skeleton (BCG-CWS) was given to 155 lung cancer patients. Clinical effects of the BCG-CWS treatment were estimated by comparing the survival of the BCG-CWS group with that of a historical control group on the basis of 4-year results. Significant prolongation of survival time has been observed in Clinical Stages II, III (M0) and III (M1). However, most Stage III patients who were given the BCG-CWS treatment died of cancer itself after marked prolongation of survival time. An increase in complete cure rate has been expected only in Stages I and II. Surgicopathological staging was used in resected cases. Resected cases at any stage were sensitive to treatment with BCG-CWS. Histologically, all types of lung cancer including squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and anaplastic carcinoma were sensitive to treatment with BCG-CWS. Intrapleural administration of BCG-CWS to patients with malignant pleurisy was effective in controlling the pleural effusion and prolonging the survival time. No serious complication has been experienced in our study.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMed1979

Cytostatic activity of peripheral blood monocytes against bronchogenic carcinoma cells in patients with lung cancer.

Cytostatic acitivity of peripheral blood monocytes against cultured cell lines of bronchogenic carcinoma was examined in patients with lung cancer. Cytostatic activity in lung cancer patients with neither augmented nor suppressed as compared with that of controls such as normal healthy persons, patients with malignancies other than lung cancer, and patients with benign respiratory diseases. There was no correlation between the cytostatic activity of monocytes and the advance of clinical stages of the disease. Conventional modalities of anticancer treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and their combination therapy had no effect on cytostatic activity of peripheral blood monocytes. However, adequate immunotherapy with nocardia rubra cell-wall skeleton augmented the cytostatic activity of peripheral blood monocytes, although adequate immunotherapy with Mycobacterium bovis BCG cell-wall skeleton had no effect.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMed1979

[Immunologic capacity of cancer patients and BCG-CSW immunotherapy].

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BCG Vaccine↗

PubMed1979

Effect of radiotherapy on lymphocyte cytotoxicity against allogeneic lung cancer cells in patients with bronchogenic carcinoma.

Cytotoxicity of peripheral blood lymphocytes against allogeneic target cells of bronchogenic carcinoma was examined by a microcytotoxicity test before, during, and after radiotherapy in primary lung cancer patients. Before the treatment, cytotoxicity was depressed only slightly in patients in stage III and strikingly in those in stage IV, as compared to the values in patients at earlier stages of lung cancer such as stages I AND II. Local irradiation scarcely affected cytotoxicity at stages II and III, but augmented remarkably at stage IV. The number of peripheral blood lymphocytes decreased profoundly during and after radiotherapy in all cases of stages II, III, and IV. Although radiotherapy exhibited various effects on the cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes and the number of peripheral blood lymphocytes, only the cytotoxic activity at the end of radiotherapy correlated well with the reduction in tumor size.

Animals↗

PubMed1979