Showing papers on "Cancer published in 1986"

A new approach to the adoptive immunotherapy of cancer with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes

Abstract: The adoptive transfer of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) expanded in interleukin-2 (IL-2) to mice bearing micrometastases from various types of tumors showed that TIL are 50 to 100 times more effective in their therapeutic potency than are lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells. Therefore the use of TIL was explored for the treatment of mice with large pulmonary and hepatic metastatic tumors that do not respond to LAK cell therapy. Although treatment of animals with TIL alone or cyclophosphamide alone had little impact, these two modalities together mediated the elimination of large metastatic cancer deposits in the liver and lung. The combination of TIL and cyclophosphamide was further potentiated by the simultaneous administration of IL-2. With the combination of cyclophosphamide, TIL, and IL-2, 100% of mice (n = 12) bearing the MC-38 colon adenocarcinoma were cured of advanced hepatic metastases, and up to 50% of mice were cured of advanced pulmonary metastases. Techniques have been developed to isolate TIL from human tumors. These experiments provide a rationale for the use of TIL in the treatment of humans with advanced cancer.

Cancer incidence, survival, and mortality for children younger than age 15 years

Abstract: Incidence and survival data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program for the 10-year period 1973-1982 are presented. Childhood cancer incidence rates have remained relatively stable over the last decade. The overall incidence rate increased slightly from 124 to 127 per million children from 1973-1977 to 1978-1982 while rates for leukemias remained unchanged over this same time period at 38 per million for all races combined. Leukemias and lymphomas accounted for 44% of all cancers among white children and 33% among blacks. For all forms of cancer combined, the 5-year relative survival rate was 57% for both whites and blacks. The 5-year relative survival rate exceeded 80% for fibrosarcomas, retinoblastomas, Hodgkin's disease, and gonadal and germ cell tumors. Survival rates for children have shown improvement during the last decade, the most dramatic improvements occurring among patients with leukemia (15% 5-year relative survival in 1967-1973 versus 51% in 1973-1981), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (24% versus 51%), and bone tumors (28% versus 48%).

International comparisons of mortality rates for cancer of the breast, ovary, prostate, and colon, and per capita food consumption

Abstract: The 1978-1979 mortality rates for cancers of the breast, prostate, ovary, and colon in 26 to 30 countries were related to the average 1979-1981 food availability data published by the United Nations. The previously described relationship between breast cancer mortality rates and animal fat consumption continues to be evident, and applies also to the other three tumor types. The correlation with breast cancer was particularly strong in postmenopausal women. Since 1964, particularly notable increases in both breast cancer mortality rate and dietary fat intake have occurred in those countries with a relatively low breast cancer risk. The international comparisons support evidence from animal experiments that diets in which olive oil is a major source of fat are associated with reduced breast cancer risk. The excess in mortality rates for breast and ovarian cancer in Israel relative to the national animal fat consumption may be due to the mixed ethnic origin of the Israeli population. Positive correlations between foods and cancer mortality rates were particularly strong in the case of meats and milk for breast cancer, milk for prostate and ovarian cancer, and meats for colon cancer. All four tumor types showed a negative correlation with cereal intake, which was particularly strong in the case of prostate and ovarian cancer. Although, in general, there was a good positive correlation between prostate and breast cancer mortality rates and between prostate cancer and animal fat, discrepancies in national ranking indicate the operation of other etiologic factors that modify risk. The observed positive correlations between the four cancer mortality rates and caloric intake from animal sources, but negative correlations for vegetable-derived calories, suggest that, of the two, animal fat and not energy is the major dietary influence on cancer risk.

Lung cancer screening: the Mayo program.

Abstract: The National Cancer Institute has sponsored three randomized controlled trials of screening for early lung cancer in large, high-risk populations to determine whether lung cancer detection can be improved by adding sputum cytological screening every 4 months to chest roentgenography done either yearly or every 4 months; and lung cancer mortality can be significantly reduced by this type of screening program, followed by appropriate treatment. Results of the three trials suggest that sputum cytology alone detects 15% to 20% of lung cancers, almost all of which are squamous cancers with a favorable prognosis; and chest roentgenography may be a more effective test for early-stage lung cancer than previous reports have suggested. Nevertheless, results of the randomized trial conducted at the Mayo Clinic showed that offering both procedures to high-risk outpatients every 4 months conferred no mortality advantage over standard medical practice that included recommended annual testing.

Serum beta-carotene, vitamins A and E, selenium, and the risk of lung cancer.

Abstract: We studied the relation of serum vitamin A (retinol), beta-carotene, vitamin E, and selenium to the risk of lung cancer, using serum that had been collected during a large blood-collection study performed in Washington County, Maryland, in 1974. Levels of the nutrients in serum samples from 99 persons who were subsequently found to have lung cancer (in 1975 to 1983) were compared with levels in 196 controls who were matched for age, sex, race, month of blood donation, and smoking history. A strong inverse association between serum beta-carotene and the risk of squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung was observed (relative odds, 4.30; 95 percent confidence limits, 1.38 and 13.41). Mean (+/- SD) levels of vitamin E were lower among the cases than the controls (10.5 +/- 3.2 vs. 11.9 +/- 4.90 mg per liter), when all histologic types of cancer were considered together. In addition, a linear trend in risk was found (P = 0.04), so that persons with serum levels of vitamin E in the lowest quintile had a 2.5 times higher risk of lung cancer than persons with levels in the highest quintile. These data support an association between low levels of serum vitamin E and the risk of any type of lung cancer and between low levels of serum beta-carotene and the risk of squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung.

High-Dose Recombinant Interleukin 2 in the Treatment of Patients With Disseminated Cancer: Responses, Treatment-Related Morbidity, and Histologic Findings

Abstract: Experience with the administration of high doses of interleukin 2 (IL-2) alone is described herein. Ten patients with a variety of malignant disorders unresponsive to conventional treatments were treated with at least 30 000 U/kg of IL-2 by bolus administration three times a day. Patients were treated intravenously or intraperitoneally from four to 21 days in a single course, usually interrupted by a week of recovery. Three of six patients with melanoma experienced an objective regression (>50% decrease in volume); there was no response to treatment in patients with colorectal (0/3) or ovarian (0/1) cancer. Two patients with initial objective regressions who subsequently developed progression were re-treated and one sustained a second partial response. Responses lasted 1, 3, and 7 months without additional treatment. Responses in the three patients with melanoma were in visceral sites (lung, liver, and spleen), as well as cutaneous sites in one patient. Progressive shrinkage of tumors for three to six months after the conclusion of therapy has been noted in two patients. Marked lymphocytic infiltrate was noted in a patient with lesions accessible to repeated biopsies. This study demonstrates that the administration of IL-2 can mediate the regression of established cancer in some patients. ( JAMA 1986;256:3117-3124)

Progress against Cancer

Abstract: We assessed the overall progress against cancer during the years 1950 to 1982. In the United States, these years were associated with increases in the number of deaths from cancer, in the crude cancer-related mortality rate, in the age-adjusted mortality rate, and in both the crude and the age-adjusted incidence rates, whereas reported survival rates (crude and relative) for cancer patients also increased. In our view, the best single measure of progress against cancer is change in the age-adjusted mortality rate associated with all cancers combined in the total population. According to this measure, we are losing the war against cancer, notwithstanding progress against several uncommon forms of the disease, improvements in palliation, and extension of the productive years of life. A shift in research emphasis, from research on treatment to research on prevention, seems necessary if substantial progress against cancer is to be forthcoming.

Choice of cancer therapy varies with age of patient.

Abstract: We used data on 22,899 cancer cases collected by the New Mexico Tumor Registry to examine the relationship between patient age and the use of potentially curative therapy for cancers of selected sites and acute leukemias. For cancers of most sites, either local or regional stage, the proportion of cases receiving potentially curative therapy declined with age. For local-stage cancers, the proportion not given any treatment increased with age. Overall mortality rates during the first year after diagnosis were much higher for local-stage cases without treatment than for those who received treatment. These data show that cancer therapy varies with age and suggest that decision making regarding therapy is influenced by the presence of other diseases. ( JAMA 1986;255:3385-3390)

Mortality and Cancer Incidence in 263 Patients With Ataxia-Telangiectasia

Abstract: Mortality and cancer incidence were measured retrospectively in 263 ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) homozygotes. For white and black A-T patients, respectively, all-cause mortality was 50 and 147 times higher than expected based on U.S. mortality rates. There were 52 primary cancers, representing a 61-fold cancer excess for white probands and a 184-fold excess for black probands. The cancer excess was most pronounced for lymphoma, with 252- and 750-fold excesses observed for whites and blacks, respectively. All the age-specific mortality and cancer incidence rates for blacks exceeded those for whites, and overall mortality was 3.0 times higher for black probands than for whites (P less than .001), whereas cancer incidence was 2.2 times higher (P less than .06). Among the white A-T patients, 36% of those who had died had lived at least until 20 years of age, and 33% of those still living were at least 20 years old.

Diet and cancer of the colon and rectum: a case-control study.

Abstract: In 1979-81, 419 patients with incident cases of colon and rectal cancer and 732 controls were questioned regarding diet and alcohol. Cancer cases were a population-based series reported to the South Australian Central Cancer Registry, were 30-74 years of age, and were residing in Metropolitan Adelaide. Controls were selected from the electoral roll and individually age- and sex-matched to cancer cases. The most consistent risk factor for colorectal cancer was dietary protein, which was associated with a twofold-to-threefold relative risk for colon cancer and for rectal cancer in women for all levels of consumption above the base line (i.e., the lowest consumption quintile). For male colon cancer the corresponding relative risk was similar; but for male rectal cancer, risk was elevated only at old ages. Total energy intake and, less clearly, meal frequency were also positively associated with increased risk. Total alcohol intake (but not specifically beer) was associated with increased risk of both colon and rectal cancer in women; in both sexes, there was an increased risk of colon and rectal cancer associated with spirits consumption. A reduced risk of rectal cancer was associated with vitamin C but not with vitamin A. The increased risk associated with high protein and total energy was confined to those consuming a low fiber diet, particularly among women; but some other aspects of the relationship between fiber consumption and risk of colorectal cancer were more complex. Some modifications and extensions of the current fat-to-bile acid-to-fiber theory of bowel carcinogenesis were suggested.

Tumors of the heart.

Abstract: Two thirds of primary tumors of the heart are benign, and half of the benign tumors are myxomas. Metastatic tumors of the heart are 20 to 40 times more common than primary tumors. Metastatic tumors originate mainly in melanomas, leukemias/lymphomas, and carcinomas, especially of the lung or breast. The parts of the heart affected, in decreasing order of frequency, are the pericardium, myocardium, and endocardium. The clinical diagnosis is suggested by a patient with cancer and a normal heart who develops any kind of heart disease that is progressive and unresponsive to the usual methods of treatment. Irradiation, percardiocentesis, and injection with chemotherapeutic agents are effective in ameliorating symptoms from lymphomas/leukemias of the heart and in pericardial effusions due to malignant disease.

Cancer Immunotherapy Using Interleukin-2 and Interleukin-2-Activated Lymphocytes

Abstract: The development of immunologic approaches to the treatment of cancer has progressed through major changes in the past five years. In the 1970s considerable enthusiasm existed for immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer based on attempts to provide nonspecific stimulation of the host immune system in the hope that this general increase in immune reactiv­ ity would lead to an increased reactivity to putative tumor antigens on growing cancers. This approach was based on minimal experimental data from animal tumor models. A large number of clinical trials in humans utilized attempts to stimulate the immune system nonspecifically. Using substances such as Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), methenol-extracted residue (MER), Corynebacterium parvum, levamisole, and other immune stimulators, researchers treated patients with extensive tumor, as well as with minimal tumor burdens. This experience was almost universally unsuccessful and, both in animal tumor model systems and in the human, has largely been abandoned (I). An alternate approach to cancer immunotherapy can be categorized as "passive" or "adoptive" immunotherapy, in which the tumor-bearing host receives the systemic transfer of immunologic reagents such as antibodies or reactive cells already possessing antitumor reactivity (2-5). Because the

Autocrine and paracrine growth regulation of human breast cancer

Abstract: We consider the hypothesis that estrogen control of hormone dependent breast cancer is mediated by autocrine and paracrine growth factors secreted by the breast cancer cells themselves. Though we show direct, unmediated effects of estrogen on specific cell functions, we also provide evidence that human breast cancer cells secrete a collection of growth factors (IGF-I, TGFα, TGFβ, a PDGF-like competency factor, and at least one new epithelial colony stimulating factor). Some of these are estrogen-regulated in hormone dependent cells, and are constitutively increased in cells which acquire independence either spontaneously or byras transfection. Collectively, the secreted growth factors are capable of promoting tumor formation by MCF-7 cells in nude mice, though not to the same extent as estrogens. There would seem to be potential for clinical intervention in the autocrine and paracrine control of breast cancer cells, including some cells which are no longer dependent on estrogens.

Estrogen-induced factors of breast cancer cells partially replace estrogen to promote tumor growth

Abstract: The hormone 17 beta-estradiol acts through its receptor system to induce MCF-7 human breast cancer cells to form tumors in athymic mice. In vitro studies have identified the production of estrogen-induced growth factors from MCF-7 cells that may have a role in growth control. These induced growth factors were sufficient to stimulate MCF-7 tumor growth in ovariectomized athymic mice, thus partially replacing estradiol. Growth factors may act as estrogen-induced "second messengers" in estrogen-responsive growth of human breast cancer.

Epirubicin: a review of the pharmacology, clinical activity, and adverse effects of an adriamycin analogue.

Abstract: Epirubicin (4'-epidoxorubicin) is an antineoplastic agent derived from doxorubicin. The compounds differ in the configuration of the hydroxyl group at the 4' position. Epirubicin, like doxorubicin, exerts its antitumor effects by interference with the synthesis and function of DNA and is most active during the S phase of the cell cycle. Epirubicin is administered by intravenous (IV) injection. It is metabolized by the liver and primarily eliminated in the bile. About 10% of the drug is eliminated in the urine. Dosage adjustments are recommended for patients with liver metastases or elevated liver function tests. The elimination half-life of epirubicin is 30 to 40 hours. Clinical studies indicate activity in breast cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, ovarian cancer, soft-tissue sarcomas, and pancreatic cancer. There is also evidence of activity against gastric cancer, small-cell lung cancer, and acute leukemia. Epirubicin has limited activity as a single agent against head and neck tumors or non-small-cell lung cancer, but may be beneficial in combination with other agents. The overall activity of epirubicin appears to be comparable with that of doxorubicin. However, more studies are needed to define its role in combination chemotherapeutic regimens. The acute dose-limiting toxicity of epirubicin is myelosuppression. Nausea, vomiting, and alopecia are also common. Epirubicin may cause transient cardiac arrhythmias and alterations of the electrocardiogram. Chronic therapy is limited, but available data indicate that epirubicin can be administered in higher cumulative doses than doxorubicin before cardiotoxicity limits further therapy.

Menopausal oestrogens and breast cancer risk: An expanded case-control study

Abstract: A study among 1960 post-menopausal breast cancer cases and 2258 controls identified through a nation-wide screening program enabled evaluation of effects of oestrogen use on breast cancer risk. Ever use was not associated with increased risk (RR = 1.0), but a significant trend was observed with increasing years of use, with users of 20 or more years being at a 50% excess risk. Elevations associated with long-term use were apparent across all menopause subgroups (natural, ovaries retained, ovaries removed). Hormones exerted particularly adverse effects in those initiating use subsequent to a diagnosis of benign breast disease, particularly long-term users (RR = 3.0, 95% CI 1.6-5.5). There was also some indication that effects predominated among the lower stage tumours, an observation similar to that observed for endometrial cancer. These findings support a role for oestrogens in the aetiology of breast cancer, although risk appears to be enhanced only after extended periods of use, and not to the extent observed for other hormonally-sensitive tumours.

Coffee drinking, mortality, and cancer incidence: results from a norwegian prospective study

Abstract: Relationships between coffee consumption and occurrence of cancer as well as mortality were explored in a Norwegian study of 13,664 men and 2,891 women who in 1967-69 reported their coffee consumption. No statistically significant positive associations were found between coffee consumption and disease. A weak negative association was found with total cancer incidence even when the first 4 of the 11 1/2 years of follow-up were excluded, and strong negative associations with coffee drinking were noted for cancer of the kidney and nonmelanoma skin cancer. For cancer of the pancreas and bladder, no increase in incidence was found among those with a high coffee consumption. In subjects less than 65 years of age at start of follow-up, coffee drinking showed a significant inverse association with colon cancer.

Expression of Lewisa, Lewisb, X, and Y blood group antigens in human colonic tumors and normal tissue and in human tumor-derived cell lines.

Abstract: Serological and immunopathological analysis of the expression of Lea, Leb, X, and Y blood group antigens on cell lines and tissues was performed using a panel of mouse monoclonal antibodies. The distribution of the antigens was determined on 155 malignant tumor cell lines of various types and 10 short term cultures of normal fibroblasts and kidney cells. Among colon cancers, all four blood group antigens were expressed on the majority of cell lines. On lung, breast, bladder, and ovarian cancer cell lines, X and Y antigens were the main specificities found, whereas few of the renal and hematopoietic tumor cell lines demonstrated any of the four blood group antigens. No blood group antigens could be detected on astrocytoma or melanoma cell lines. The expression of the antigens was also analyzed on frozen sections of colon carcinoma and adjacent normal colon tissue from 42 patients using the immunoperoxidase method. Lea and X were detected throughout the normal colon and on most colonic tumors. In poorly differentiated colon cancer and in metastatic cancer, decrease of Lea antigen was observed. Leb and Y expression was observed in only 20-45% of normal tissue samples but in almost all colonic carcinoma tissues. A selected number of tumor and normal specimens from patients whose secretor status was known were examined in more detail. Both the staining of the tissues and the reactivity of blood group glycolipids from the same specimens were determined. These studies confirmed the above findings and demonstrated the unexpected ability of tumors of nonsecretors to express Leb and/or Y antigens. In such individuals, in whom the expression of Leb and Y antigens in normal tissues is absent or minimal, these antigens provide possible targets for immunodiagnosis and therapy.

The long-term hazards of the treatment of thyroid cancer with radioiodine.

Abstract: Two-hundred and fifty-eight patients treated with high-activity 131I for thyroid cancer and on prolonged follow-up have been reviewed to determine long-term hazards and their relation to the radiation dose received. The expectation of life of those dying from causes other than cancer was slightly reduced in the female patients. A small, significant excess of deaths from cancer of the bladder and from leukaemia was found which, assuming that these were due to radiation, gave inferred risk-rates respectively of 0.4 and 4.9 deaths per 10(4) PYG (patient-year-grays) to the bladder wall and red marrow. Of 31 younger patients (eight male, 23 female), four of the marriages have been infertile. The fertile marriages produced a total of 44 live births. Considerable gonad irradiation (estimated 0.8-2.7 Gy) was compatible with apparently normal fertility. Despite the high level of irradiation of the salivary glands, no malignancies and only one adenoma was found. Impaired pulmonary function occurred in only one of the patients who had diffuse bilateral metastases. In this patient, tumour in the lung was persistent throughout, so that radiation was probably not alone responsible.

The prevalence of cancer. Estimates based on the Connecticut Tumor Registry.

Abstract: Cancer incidence and mortality do not fully reflect the effect of cancer. To estimate the number of persons alive who have a history of cancer, we derived prevalence rates based on data from the Connecticut Tumor Registry. We did not attempt to distinguish between people who had been cured of cancer and those who still had the disease. In 1982 the age-adjusted prevalence rates of cancer among males and females were 1,789 and 2,222, respectively, per 100,000. Age-specific prevalence rates were highest among the elderly; 12 percent of men and 11 percent of women over 70 had previously been given a diagnosis of cancer. Breast cancer in females and prostate cancer in males were the two most prevalent malignant diseases. We estimate that about 5 million persons alive in the United States today have at one time received a diagnosis of cancer.

The preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen test in the diagnosis, staging, and prognosis of colorectal cancer.

Abstract: A study of preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels was conducted in 319 patients with surgically treated colorectal cancer, 272 of whom had disease resectable with curative intent. Only three patients could not be completely followed. All of the remaining 316 patients have been followed for a minimum of 5 years or until death. From the standpoint of diagnosis, the CEA test was more frequently positive (>5 mg/ml) in patients with advanced stage disease, with larger primary tumors, and with more differentiated histopathologic characteristics. It was grossly insensitive in diagnosis of resectable cancer (26%) and was only reasonably reliable (72%) in patients with unresectable and metastatic disease. In relationship to surgical pathology of colorectal cancer, CEA levels were significantly correlated with stage of disease and with size of the primary tumor in Dukes' B lesions, but not with extent of nodal metastasis in Dukes' C lesions. In advanced stage lesions, CEA was inversely correlated with degree of anaplasia. In the overall patient group, and also among resectable patients, the preoperative CEA level was strongly associated with survival after adjustment for the effects of a number of other prognostic factors. Within stages of resectable disease, however, CEA was not significantly associated with survival among patients with Dukes' A and B lesions or Dukes' C lesions with one to three nodes involved. CEA was found to be a significant and independent prognostic determinant only in patients with Dukes' C lesions who had four or more metastatically involved lymph nodes. Under these circumstances, a preoperative CEA level could perhaps be of some value for stratification of Dukes' C patients in randomized colorectal cancer surgical adjuvant trials. The value of this test as a prognostic guide in clinical practice, however, would seem to be limited because of a lack of sensitivity in identifying individual poor prognosis patients. Cancer 58:603-610, 1986.

Human Papillomavirus in Clinically and Histologically Normal Tissue of Patients with Genital Cancer

Abstract: To study the association of human papillomavirus (HPV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV) with genital cancer, we collected specimens of cervical, vulvar, endometrial, and vaginal tumors at the time of operation in patients with cancer. In some patients, matched internalcontrol (histologically normal) tissue was also collected. DNA extracted from the tissue was probed with Radio-labeled HPV type 16 DNA, HPV type 18 DNA, and cloned fragments of HSV type 2 DNA. Hybridization to the HindIIIa clone of HSV-2 was detected in only 1 cervical tumor and 1 vulvar tumor (9 percent) among the 22 tumors tested. However, DNA sequences hybridizing to HPV-16 were detected in 21 of 25 tumors (84 percent) and in 8 of 11 (73 percent) of the DNA samples from clinically and histologically normal, paired, internal-control tissues from the patients with cancer. HPV-16 DNA was found in one of nine normal cervixes (11 percent) of women without genital neoplastic disease or abnormal cytology. HPV-18 DNA was detected in only 2...

Intermittent endocrine therapy for advanced prostate cancer.

Abstract: Twenty patients with advanced prostate cancer have been treated with an intermittent endocrine therapy schedule. Hormone therapy (diethylstilbestrol in 19 patients and flutamide in 1 patient) was administered until a clinical response was clearly demonstrated and then it was withheld until symptoms recurred. Prior to treatment 17 of 20 patients had bone pain and positive radionuclide scans, two had asymptomatic pulmonary metastases, and one had symptomatic localized disease. Duration of endocrine therapy prior to withdrawal of all treatment ranged 2 to 70 months (median, 10 months). Disease progression occurred 1 to 24 months (median, 8 months) after interruption of therapy. All patients who relapsed had a rapid clinical response following resumption of endocrine therapy. Nine of ten patients rendered impotent by endocrine therapy resumed sexual activity within 3 months of stopping treatment. This data indicates that satisfactory palliation of advanced prostatic cancer can be achieved in selected patients using intermittent endocrine therapy.

Role of aromatic amine acetyltransferase in human colorectal cancer.

Abstract: • Hepatic arylamine acetyltransferase phenotype has been suggested to be an important risk factor for urinary bladder carcinogenesis in individuals with known exposure to aromatic amines. This study was performed to evaluate the relative distribution of fast- and slow-acetylator phenotypes both in a population of men, 45 to 75 years of age, with a history of colorectal cancer and in a matched control group. Acetyltransferase activity was determined by administration of su lf amethazine and by subsequent analysis of blood and urine samples for N -acetylsulfamethazine and sulfamethazine using highpressure liquid chromatography. The control group was composed of 28 slow-, two intermediate-, and 11 fast-acetylator individuals, while the group of patients with a history of cancer consisted of 20 slow-, three intermediate-, and 20 fast-acetylator phenotypes. This higher relative proportion of fast acetylators in the patients with a cancer history was highly significant and is consistent with the hypothesis that aromatic amines could play a role in the etiology of human colorectal cancer. ( Arch Surg 1986;121:1259-1261)

Interferon therapy in cancer: from imaginon to interferon.

Abstract: Isaacs and Lindemann first characterized UN in England in 1957; they coined the term to signify a protein elaborated by virally infected cells that functions to prevent their infection by a second virus (1). However, difficulties with chemical isolation and characterization led to great skepticism about the existence of the protein; indeed \"... the scientific community dubbed his discovery 'imaginon'\" (2).