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Clinical Case Report

Bronchial Carcinoid Tumor Treated with Interferon and a New Vaccine Against NeuGcGM3 Antigen Expressed in Malignant Carcinoid Cells

Barroso Alvarez, Abraham Macías, Martinez G. Suarez, Molina L.E. Fernández and Dávila A Lage

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A case of a 16 year-old female with a disseminated tumour was reported 6 years after surgical treatment. In October 1993 the diagnosis of a bronchial carcinoid tumour was made and a left pneumonectomy was performed. No adjuvant treatment was indicated. In May 1999 a relapse was confirmed by cytology, and a treatment with rec-hIFNα (10 MU intramuscular, thrice/week) was indicated. Her clinical condition improved, (ECOG 2 to 0), after three months of stable disease at evaluation, up to March 2002 when she developed a progressive disease as documented by abdominal CT scan. The histological block of the primary tumour was sent to the Centre of Molecular Immunology in order to evaluate the recognition of the ganglioside molecule on the tumour by immunohistochemistry, which was informed as positive. In April 2002 we decided to begin a compassionate treatment with the vaccine NGcGM3/VSSP Montanide ISA 51 in combination with rec-hIFNα. Since then up to now (56 months after progression with rec-hIFNα alone) the patient still has stable disease. In summary, we observed very encouraging results that could support further studies in this type of patients.

Authors

Barroso Alvarez

Center of Molecular Immunology, Havana City, Cuba

Abraham Macías

Center of Molecular Immunology, Havana City, Cuba

Martinez G. Suarez

Centre of Molecular Immunology; Havana City, Cuba

Molina L.E. Fernández

Center of Molecular Immunology, Havana City, Cuba

Dávila A Lage

Center of Molecular Immunology, Havana City, Cuba

This is an open-access article

 Download PDF

If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.