Chemotherapy of malignant melanoma

Effective treatment of cutaneous and subcutaneous malignant tumours by electrochemotherapy

“…In many instances, the response rate is low. In melanoma, for example, partial response rates range from 20% to 45%, with complete responses of less than 5% (Buzaid and Murren, 1992;Coates, 1992;Nathanson and Jilani, 1993;Yeung, 1994). One possible reason for this low response rate is the difficulty of some drugs to cross the cell membrane and reach their intracellular site of action.…”

A Phase I Study of Intralesional Administration of an Adenovirus Vector Expressing the HSV-1 Thymidine Kinase Gene (AdV.RSV-TK) in Combination with Escalating Doses of Ganciclovir in Patients with Cutaneous Metastatic Malignant Melanoma

“…4 mm) or regional lymph node metastases have a high risk of relapse and an ultimate mortality of 50-90% (Balch et al, 1981a;Clark et al, 1989). The results of most trials of adjuvant chemotherapy or immunotherapy have been poor and inconsistent (Nathanson and Jilani, 1993). Recently, a large randomized trial by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (EST 1684) found benefit from a 48 week course of high dose interferon alfa-2b as compared to observation alone in resected high risk patients (Kirkwood et al, 1996).…”

“…Median survival of patients with stage IV disease is typically 7-8 months and the five-year survival is 6% (Stadelman et al, 1998). Single agent chemotherapy and multi-drug com binations have response rates of 15-40% , but have had little impact on patient survival (Anderson et al, 1995;Garbe et al, 1993;Nathanson and Jilani, 1993). The use of interleukin-2 with or without adoptive immunotherapy, vaccination strategies, toxin-conjugated monoclonal antibodies, chemoimmunotherapy and other biological response modifier therapies, while benefiting some patients with advanced disease, has resulted in few long term survivors (Anderson et al, 1995;Garbe et al, 1993;Rosenberg et al, 1993).…”