title: Oral cancer treatment and immune targets - a role for dendritic cells?
abstract: Treating a patient suffering from an advanced oral cavity carcinoma by peritumoural injections of mistletoe preparation resulted in a surprising partial response. At the same time an early metastasis, located at the kidney, however remained unaffected. The main difference in treatment being peritumoural versus systematic application supports the hypothesis of immune surveillance. The impact of mistletoe extract in direct contact with the tumour tissue might be explained as activation of macrophage polarization followed by induced cytotoxicity. No direct contact is resulting in no direct macrophage activation. At present there is no clinical trial outlined to test this hypothesis, but as a beginning we would like to encourage submission of case reports with similar clinical experience.
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Plastic Surgery, Greifswald University, Ferdinand-Sauerbruch-Str. Bettenhaus I, D-17475 Greifswald, Germany. metelman@uni-greifswald.de
authors: Hans-Robert
authors: HR
authors: Metelmann
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Hyckel
authors: Fred
authors: F
authors: Podmelle
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy*; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008262:Macrophage Activation; D008297:Male; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D028181:Viscum / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts