The National Cancer Institute's Biological Response Modifiers Programme (BRMP) evaluates biological substances for cancer treatment.
Potential biological response modifiers (BRM) include immunomodulators, interferons, cytokines, and antibodies.
Purpose of the Study:
To assess the therapeutic potential of biological response modifiers (BRM) in cancer treatment.
To evaluate BRM efficacy in preclinical models as a prerequisite for clinical trials.
Main Methods:
Preclinical evaluation of novel agents as potential BRM.
Testing BRM for their ability to alter biological responses, including toxic and therapeutic effects.
Investigating the predictive value of optimizing BRM activity for therapeutic efficacy.
Main Results:
Preliminary results with interferon, thymic factors, and immune modulators are promising but require further investigation.
Ongoing research focuses on purified cytokines, tumor-associated antigens, and monoclonal antibodies for cancer therapy.
Conclusions:
BRM show potential in cancer treatment, with ongoing research exploring various agents and their mechanisms.
Further investigation into the interaction between BRM and chemotherapy is warranted, particularly for cytokines that enhance bone-marrow-stem cell function.