title: Biologic therapy in patients receiving salvage treatment.
abstract: In recent years, biologic response modifiers, including recombinant cytokines and hematopoietic growth factors, have been used to treat patients with refractory hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, as well as chemotherapy-associated myelosuppression and thrombocytopenia and treatment- and/or malignancy-related anemia. Various cytokines appear to be effective in patients with hematologic malignancies, but long-term and durable responses in the salvage setting are rare. In patients with solid tumors, such as renal cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma, and colorectal cancer, cytokines may have a limited role in primary therapy but are of little value in salvage therapy. Complications of malignancy and antineoplastic therapy are widely treated with hematopoietic growth factors, like granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, and more recently the interferons and interleukins have demonstrated a potential role in this setting.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Therapeutics Program, Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, OH 44195.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Bukowski
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D006402:Hematologic Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D016879:Salvage Therapy
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D007155:Immunologic Factors