Neuroimmunomodulation in medical oncology: application of psychoneuroimmunology with subcutaneous low-dose IL-2 and the pineal hormone melatonin in patients with untreatable metastatic solid tumors.
Anticancer Res
; 28(2B): 1377-81, 2008.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18505083
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Anticancer immunity is under psychoneuroendocrine regulation, mainly via the pineal gland and brain opioid system, which may stimulate and inhibit antitumor immunity respectively. Cancer-related immuno-suppression does not depend only on functional damage of immune cells, but also on alterations of systems responsible for the neuroimmunomodulation, the most frequent of wich is a decline in blood levels of the pineal hormone melatonin (MLT). PATIENTS ANDMETHODS:
A study was performed to evaluate the influence of an exogenous administration of MLT alone or MLT plus subcutaneous (SC) low-dose interleukin-2 on tumor progression and survival time in patients with untreatable metastatic solid tumors. The study included 846 patients with metastatic solid tumor (non-small cell lung cancer or gastrointestinal tract tumors) randomized to receive the best supportive care only, supportive care plus MLT (20 mg/day, orally in the evening), or MLT plus SC low-dose IL-2 (3 MIU/day for 5 days/week, for 4 consecutive weeks).RESULTS:
The MLT alone was able to induce a significant increase of disease stabilization and survival time with respect to supportive care alone. The association of lL-2 with MLT provided a further improvement in the percentage of tumor regressions and of 3-year survival with respect to MLT alone.CONCLUSION:
The administration of IL-2 and the pineal hormone MLT may induce control of neolplastic growth and a prolonged survival time in patients with metastatic solid tumors, for whom no other conventional anticancer therapy is available.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Temas:
Cuidados_paliativos
/
Geral
/
Tipos_de_cancer
/
Pulmao
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Cuidados Paliativos
/
Interleucina-2
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Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas
/
Neoplasias Gastrointestinais
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Neoplasias Pulmonares
/
Melatonina
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
Limite:
Adult
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Aged
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Female
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Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Anticancer Res
Ano de publicação:
2008
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Itália