Changes in LDH isoenzymes following chemotherapy in hepatic malignancy.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to W S Fletcher.
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One hundred and seventy-seven patients were evaluated after therapy with 5-azacytidine using a dose of 1.6 mg/kg/day X 10 days followed by a maintenance regimen. One hundred and forty-eight of the patients received the drug by rapid iv infusion and 29 received the drug daily by and infusion that lasted between 18 and 24 hours. Hematologic toxicity was significant but transient in both groups. Nausea was severe using the rapid iv infusion and minimal with the slow infusion. Antitumor effect was seen in 17% of the evaluable patients with carcinoma of the breast and 21% of the patients with malignant lymphomas. Occasional responses were seen with a variety of other solid tumors. The responses were transient, and clinically, resistance to 5-azacytidine appeared to develop quite rapidly. No clear-cut difference was seen in response rates or duration of response between the two groups of patients. Cross resistance to other anticancer agents was not noted. It is believed that the drug is only of minimal value as a single agent in solid tumors using either of the methods of administration described.
On the basis that melanomas are of neural crest origin and might contain somatostatin receptors, the authors utilized 111In Pentetreotide (OctreoScan) to image 16 melanoma patients with known sites of disease. Twelve of 16 patients were positive with 38 percent imaging all sites. No lesion less than 1.5 cm imaged nor did one ocular and one amelanotic melanoma. Of the five described somatostatin receptors, OctreoScan binds only 2 and 5 suggesting that not all melanomas contain those receptors. It is concluded that melanomas contain somatostatin receptors and that this property might be used for imaging, tumor suppression with Octreotide, and/or as a target for Octreotide labelled with therapeutic agents such as immune complexes, chemotherapeutic agents or high energy radioisotopes.