Chemistry and radiation physics have contributed greatly to the development of contemporary anticancer treatment modalities. A new era may be on the horizon though, in which the field of biology may finally add significantly to clinical oncology practice. The Fourth International Symposium on the Biological Therapy of Cancer was held recently in Munich, Germany (June 11-14, 1997), and was focussed on the endeavor to bring basic biological research findings into clinical practice, including ongoing attempts by clinicians to organize teams of biomedical workers capable of implementing the most promising research results from the fields of biological cancer therapy. If an interested reader makes a survey of recent reports which used animal models in attempts to clarify the optimal conditions for stimulating activated immune responses, he/she will find many reports that experimental anti-tumor immune response protocols can lead to tumor regression or even complete remission. Translatint these advances in animal models into the human clinical setting has become a major goal of many clinical teams throughout the world, as evkdenced at thes symposium. It was, in fact, impressive how many teams are engaged in phase I, II, and even III clinical trials using biological therapies, tumor vaccines, and immune modulatory drugs, as discussed below.
Biological Cancer therapy update - a report from a Munich conference
