Clinical immunotherapy experiences in the Southeastern Cancer Study Group

The Southeastern Cancer Study Group has been particularly interested in the use of immunological adjuvants in the treatment of melanoma and acute myelogenous leukemia. A study of chemotherapy versus chemoimmunotherapy in randomly selected patients with metastatic malignant melanoma revealed no significant increase in either complete remissions or overall survival in the group receiving chemoimmunotherapy. Preliminary results in a study involving maintenance of patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (chemotherapy versus chemoimmunotherapy) revealed suggestive but not statistically significant increases in remission duration and survival in the group receiving immunotherapy. Data from these ongoing studies and plans for new group studies are presented in this paper.