Immune impairment and metastatic tumor growth. The need for an immunorestorative drug as an adjunct to surgery

✍ Scribed by Joel Lundy; Edmund J. Lovett III; Steven M. Wolinsky; Philip Conran

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 576 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(197903)43:3<945::aid-cncr2820430324>3.0.co;2-v

✦ Synopsis

A spontaneous murine metastatic tumor system was used as a model to assess the effects of a major surgical procedure on tumor-specific immune reactivity and the growth of micrornetastases. Any major surgical procedure resulted in impaired cell-mediated cytotoxicity postoperatively and an increase in the number of gross pulmonary metastases. The use of an immunorestorative drug, Thiabendazole, in the perioperative period resulted in an improved cytotoxic response and a significant decrease in pulmonary metastases. Perioperative immunotherapy can be an effective adjunct to surgery in preventing the growth of micrometastatic foci.

Cancer 43:945-951. 1979.

MAJOR OBJECTIVE of oncologists is to A integrate the strengths of the multimodality approach to cancer to effect greater cure rates. There are several studies in the literature which clearly indicate that currently employed conventional cancer modalities are immunosuppressive.2~5~1z*16 Data in our laboratory, using murine models, indicate that certain anesthetic agents alone, and with major surgical procedures, are capable of impairing cell-mediated immunity and increasing tumor growth of artificial pulmonary metasta~es.~*~ To simulate more closely the human clinical situation, a spontaneous murine metastatic system was used in this set of experiments. Our objectives were: 1) to demonstrate the immunosuppressive effect of a major surgical procedure; 2) to determine if this produced a significant biologic consequence, i.e., an