Fifty patients with disseminated testicular cancer were treated with a three-drug combination consisting of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum, vinblastine, and bleomycin. Three patients were considered inevaluable due to early death. This chemotherapy regimen produced 74% complete and 26% partial remissions. Furthermore, five patients with partial remission became disease-free after surgical removal of residual disease, producing an overall 85% disease-free status. Toxicity, although significant during remission induction with cis-platinum, vinblastine, and bleomycin, was usually manageable, although there were two drug-related deaths during this period. Thirty-eight of these patients remain alive and 32 remain alive and disease-free at 6 + to 30 + months. We believe this regimen represents a major advance in the management of patients with disseminated testicular cancer.

Cis-Diamminedichloroplatinum, Vinblastine, and Bleomycin Combination Chemotherapy in Disseminated Testicular Cancer

Lipid peroxides and human diseases.

Adriamycin: A New Anticancer Drug with Significant Clinical Activity

Block copolymer micelles as vehicles for drug delivery

Oxygen is indispensable for aerobic organisms including, of course, human beings, but it is believed that oxygen also may be responsible for undesired phenomena. In particular, oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide, superoxide radical anion, and singlet oxygen are proposed as agents attacking polyunsaturated fatty acids in cell membranes, giving rise to lipid peroxidation. Several reports have suggested that lipid peroxidation may result in destabilization and disintegration of cell membranes, leading to liver injury and other diseases, and finally, to aging and susceptibility to cancer (4).

Antioxidants/antimutagens in food.

Bleomycin, a new antibiotic antineoplastic agent, has undergone extensive clinical trial. Data from 1,174 patients were reviewed and summarized by cell type. The most commonly used dose schedule was 15 mg/m2 twice a week intravenously. Significant response rates were achieved in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of various anatomical sites, lymphomas, and testicular carcinoma. Most responses were of 1 to 2 months' duration. Drug toxicities included significant skin and pulmonary complications and some degree of drug-induced pyrexia and nausea with vomiting. Rare insignificant bone marrow depression was encountered. The limitations of a retrospective clinical review of this type using uncontrolled pooled data from various patient populations were discussed. In conclusion, however, bleomycin appeared to be useful in the treatment of patients with specific tumors refractory to standard treatment and/or whose bone marrow status precluded the use of conventional chemotherapy. The final role of bleomycin in cancer chemotherapy awaits the results of controlled prospective clinical trials.

A clinical review of bleomycin—a new antineoplastic agent

Adriamycin-a review.

Single and combination nonhormonal chemotherapy in breast cancer

Editorial: Large-bowel cancer-The current status of treatment.

Hexamethylmelamine (HMM) has been undergoing clinical trials for about a decade under the sponsorship of the National Cancer Institute. It has been tested in Phase II and III cooperative group studies and has a wide spectrum of activity in solid tumors. Its activity is most marked in ovarian cancer, lymphomas, and carcinoma of the cervix; the drug is also active in bronchogenic carcinoma and carcinoma of the breast. Considerable clinical evidence suggests a lack of cross-resistance between HMM and alkylating agents. The currently popular dose is 300 mg/m2/day p.o. for indefinite periods if tolerated. The dose-limiting toxicity is neurologic, but gastrointestinal side effects and a moderate degree of myelosuppression are also observed. Combination chemotherapy using HMM is underway in ovarian and lung cancer. Further exploration of its activity as a single agent in tumors such as those of the bladder, prostate, and uterus, and in combination chemotherapy in lymphomas, and mammary, cervical, and pulmonary tumors is warranted.

https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/1097-0142%28197607%2938%3A1%3C27%3A%3AAID-CNCR2820380106%3E3.0.CO%3B2-N

Stephen K. Carter

Papers

A clinical review of bleomycin—a new antineoplastic agent

Adriamycin-a review.

Single and combination nonhormonal chemotherapy in breast cancer

Editorial: Large-bowel cancer-The current status of treatment.

Hexamethylmelamine. An evaluation of its role in the therapy of cancer.