J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 80(12): 1427-1431, 1979

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Report on the annual meeting

NONSPECIFIC ADJUVANT IMMUNOTHERAPY OF LUNG CANCER WITH CELL WALL SKELETONS OF BCG AND NOCARDIA RUBRA

Nonspecific adjuvant immunotherapy of lung cancer with cell-wall skeletons of BCG (BCG-CWS) and Nocardia rubra (N-CWS) was applied in 155 and 38 patients, respectively. Clinical effects of the BCG-CWS treatment were estimated by comparing the survival of the BCG-CWS group with that of a historical control group. Significant prolongation of survival time has been observed in clinical stages II, III (M₀) and III (M₁). However, most of stage III patients who were given the BCG-CWS treatment died of cancer itself after marked prolongation of survival time. An increase in complete cure rate has been expected only in stages I and II. Surgico-pathological staging was employed in resected cases. Resected cases at any stage were sensitive to treatment with BCG-CWS and an improvement of 5 year cure rate could be expected. Pathological studies in autopsied cases revealed that the BCG-CWS treatment suppressed the degree of hematogenous metastases.
N-CWS has been reported previously to induce more potent antitumor activity in experimental murine and guinea pig tumors than BCG-CWS. The intrapleural administration of N-CWS followed by intradermal injections was effective to prolong the remission duration of patients in stage III (M₀). Further studies are needed to obtain a conclusion in clinical use.

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