[Aranoza -- a new Russian antineoplastic drug]. / Aranoza--novyi otechestvennyi protivoopukholevyi preparat.

Myelosuppression is a toxicity-related limitation for aranoza dosage. The drug proved effective in the treatment of uterine sarcoma, cancer of the head and neck, breast, Hodgkin's disease and lymphosarcoma during stage II of clinical studies. Complete regression was reported in the treatment of melanoma (ca. 12%). Good results of chemoimmunotherapy should be expected in untreated patients as well as intraarterial infusions for local lesions of the extremities. Clinical trials of aranoza used in combined modalities of therapy in various sites continue.

[Results of a phase I clinical trial of "theraphthal + ascorbic acid" catalytic system]. / Rezul'taty I fazy klinicheskogo izucheniia kataliticheskoi sistemy "teraftal + askorbinovaia kislota".

Phase-I clinical studies of teraphtal and a "teraphtal + ascorbic acid" catalytic system have been completed. The dose-limiting toxicity and maximum tolerable dose were not reached even at the end of maximal dose trials. No side-effects characteristic of antitumor cytostatic drugs were registered. The gravest side-effect ever recorded was a collapse which could not be linked to teraphtal dosage and was probably caused by hypersensitivity to the drug. The drug was recommended for phase II trials.

[Combination of taxotere and doxorubicin in chemotherapy of disseminated breast cancer]. / Kombinatsiia taksotera i doksorubitsina v khimioterapii disseminirovannogo raka molochnoi zhelezy.

Chemotherapy (taxotere + doxorubicin) was given to 46 patients with disseminated breast cancer: first line--27 (group A) and second line (including treatment after anthracycline-containing combinations and taxol--19) (group B). Average effectiveness in group A was 70.4% (10/27); group B--42.1% (8/19). The highest response was shown by metastases to the lung, liver, peripheral lymph nodes and primary tumors; least response--metastases to bones and soft tissues. Remission duration ranged 3-26 months. Median remission duration in group A was significantly longer than in group B (13.3 +/- 1.0 and 7.0 +/- 1.4 months, respectively) (p(0 < 05). Remission is still on in 11 patients (more than 26 months). Toxic poisoning was moderate: neutropenia stage III-IV was reported in 82/225 cycles (36.4%) lasting more than 7 days in 4/225 cycles (1.7%), febrile neutropenia stage 1-II--10/225 cycles (4.4%); stomatitis and diarrhea stage III-IV--1/225 cycles (0.44%). Treatment was suspended because of hypertension in one patient. No other side effects stage III-IV were registered.

[Combination therapy including mutamycin (mitomycin C) in the treatment of advanced colorectal and gastric cancer]. / Kombinatsii s mutamitsinom (mitomitsin C) v lechenii disseminirovannogo raka tolstoi kishki i zheludka.

The paper reports the data on treatment of 57 patients with disseminated gastric and colorectal carcinoma using a combination of mutamycin + 5-fluorouracil + leucovorin + cisplatin. Overall response was 26.3% including complete--7.01 and partial--19.29%. Mean duration of complete and partial remission was 10.88 +/- 5.65 and 5.18 +/- 0.82 months, respectively. Treatment as first-line chemotherapy was significantly more effective (36.1 and 9.5%). The regimens proved relatively low-toxic and therefore, can be recommended for out-patient application.

[Combination therapy of patients with locally advanced breast cancer]. / Kombinirovannoe lechenie mestnorasprostranennogo raka molochnoi zhelezy.

The investigation involved 30 patients with locally advanced breast cancer (T3-4N1-2M0). Combination therapy comprised two courses: carboplatin 300 mg/m2, i.v., dropwise, on day 1; doxorubicin 30 mg/m2, i.v., bolus-flow, on days 1 and 8; 5-fluorouracil 350 mg/m2, i.v., bolus-flow, on days 1 and 8, and irradiation of the breast and regional metastasis area (single target dose--2 Gy, total target dose--40 Gy). Overall clinical response was 96.7% (29/30), mammography-wise--83.3% (25/30). All patients were found operable and radical mastectomy was performed in 25. Therapeutic effect stage III-IV was histologically confirmed in 40% (25/30), stage I-II--60% (15/25). Median overall and recurrence-free survival was not reached within 36 months in 24/30, relapse-free survival was been reported in 16/24 (66.6%), tumor progression--8/24 (33.4%). Three-year; host-mastectomy recurrence-free survival--68.8 +/- 16.0%.

[The 5HT3-receptor antagonist Zofran (ondansetron) as an agent for preventing nausea and vomiting during the cytostatic treatment of cancer patients]. / Antagonist retseptorov 5HT3 zofran (ondansteron) kak sredstvo preduprezhdeniia toshnoty i rvoty pri tsitosticheskom lechenii onkologicheskikh bol'nykh.

The authors describe regimens of Zofran application convenient in oncological practice to prevent nausea and vomiting in patients receiving cytostatic drugs. It is well tolerated and low toxic.

[The results of using high-dose methotrexate in treating osteogenic sarcoma]. / Rezul'taty primeneniia vysokikh doz metotreksata pri lechenii otseogennoi sarkomy.

The interim results of the use of high-dose methotrexate with leucovorin rescue for the treatment of 26 patients with osteogenic sarcoma are discussed. Preoperative chemotherapy was followed by marked regression of primary tumor in one out of seven patients with localized disease. In that group, metastasis-free period lasted 2, 3, 10+, 12, 17+ and 24+ months. Response was observed in two out of 19 (10.6%) cases of metastases. Toxic side-effects were moderate and were mainly nausea (38.5% of patients), vomiting (26.9%), elevation of serum transaminase levels (38.5%) and fever (30.7% of cases).

[Chemotherapy of disseminated forms of breast cancer using platinum derivatives]. / Khimioterapiia rasprostranennykh form raka molochnoi zhelezy s ispol'zovaniem proizvodnykh platiny.

Platinum-based combination chemotherapy regimens (CAP or CMF + cisplatin) were used for the treatment of disseminated breast cancer. Response rate for the CAP regimen was 47.5%. The most frequent side-effects were nausea, vomiting, nephrotoxicity and myelosuppression. Relationship between survival and response was identified.

[Results of a cooperative clinical study of the Russian antineoplastic antibiotic bleomycetin]. / Rezul'taty kooperirovannogo klinicheskogo izucheniia otechestvennogo protivoopukholevogo antibiotika bleomitsetina.

Cooperative clinical trials of a newly-developed antibiotic--bleomycetin (a purified fraction of bleomycin A5) conducted in 172 patients at 7 oncological centers revealed a spectrum of antitumor activities similar to that displayed by Japanese-made bleomycin. When administered by intravenous or intramuscular injection in single or total doses amounting to only 50-70% of those of bleomycin (bleocin), bleomycetin proved effective in the treatment of extended squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, skin, cervix uteri, embryonal cancer of the testicle and, particularly, recurrent Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Single administration of 15-50 mg bleomycetin (total dose--50-150 mg) to serous cavities was followed by the cure of specific pleurisy and ascites in 47%. Unlike bleomycin, bleomycetin treatment was free of pulmonary toxicity, and skin hyperpigmentation, hyperkeratosis, vomiting and alopecia were significantly less frequent.

[Pharmacokinetics of the antitumor antibiotic bleomycetin in cancer patients given the preparation by different methods]. / Farmakokinetika protivoopukholevogo antibiotika bleomitsetina u onkologicheskikh bol'nykh pri razlichnykh metodakh vvedeniia preparata.

The pharmacokinetics of bleomycetin, a new antitumor antibiotic prepared in the USSR, was studied microbiologically. The less the extent of the main tumor in the patients, the higher the antibiotic blood levels in them. This might be associated with the adsorption capacity of the tumor tissue. The dependence of the bleomycetin kinetics on the intensity of renal clearance was shown. The characteristics of the drug distribution in the blood after intravenous, intramuscular and intrapleural administration are presented.

[Belomycetin in the combined chemotherapy of testicular tumors]. / Bleomitsetin v kombinirovannoi khimioterapii opukholei iaichka.

The results of the treatment of 21 patients with testicle tumors of various histological structure, stages III and IV, are presented. The combination of bleomycetin (bleomycin A5), an antitumor antibiotic made in the USSR, with vinblastine and platinum derivatives was used. The antitumor effect was observed in 63 per cent of patients, including 21 per cent of patients with complete regression of tumors. The periods of complete and partial remission were 3--13 and 1--9 months, respectively. The combination is sufficiently effective and may be recommended for the treatment of patients with disseminated malignant tumors of the testicle.

[Clinical evaluation of a bleomycin-group antitumor antibiotic bleomycetin]. / Klinicheskaia otsenka protivo-opukholevogo antibiotika iz gruppy bleomitsinov-bleomitsetina.

The efficacy of bleomycetin or bleomycin A5 was studied in 128 patients with different malignant neoplasms. The antibiotic was used as a systemic or intracavitary chemotherapeutic agent. Bleomycetin was effective in 75-80, 81.8, 58.3, 70 and 50 per cent of the cases with disseminated derminogenic tumor of the testicle, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, cancer of the penis, carcinoma of the skin and lymphogranulomatosis, respectively. When used intracavitarily the drug was effective in 41.2 per cent of the patients with cancer of the ovaries and lungs, teratoblastoma of the ovaries, cancer of the mammary gland and sarcoma of the soft tissues. Hyperthermia and focal hyperkeratosis as the adverse reactions were observed in 40.6 and 5.4 per cent of the patients, respectively. No toxicity with respect to the lungs was registered.