The Biological Therapy of Cancer

The current status of biological approaches to the therapy of malignancy is reviewed. Biological response modifiers have been used in immunobiological therapeutic strategies, as myelorestorative agents during chemotherapy, as modulators of cytotoxic chemotherapeutic actions, and as adjuncts to the differentiation therapy of cancer. Immunobiologically active agents currently under study include recombinant cytokines such as interferons-alpha and -gamma. interleukin (IL)-1 and IL-2. and tumuor necrosis factor. A range of hematopoietic growth factors are being studied alone or in combination; these include granulocyte-. granulocyte-macrophage- and macrophage-colony stimulating factors, IL-3 and IL-6. and the recombinant growth factor PIXY-321. Targetting strategies to cytotoxic cancer therapy including immunoloxin and radioimmunoconjugate therapy have used monocolonal antibodies and derivative bio-engineered molecules as targetting modalities. Finally. the recent descriptions of therapeutic successes with retinoid-based differentiation strategies opens new possibilities for biologically-based treatment of malignancy.