Treatment of advanced ovarian malignancy with chemoimmunotherapy using autologous tumor and Corynebacterium parvum

Fourteen patients with advanced ovarian epithelial carcinoma were treated with a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The chemotherapy consisted of either melphalan or a combination of adriamycin, cytoxan, and cisplatin. The immunotherapy consisted of the injection of autologous radiation-attenuated tumor and Corynebacterium parvum. No significant toxicity occurred as a result of the immunotherapy, and there was no evidence of tumor growth at the sites of injection. The autologous tumor skin test showed prognostic value. Skin testing with C parvum was of less prognostic value than tumor. All other studies of immunologic status, including T- and B-cell enumeration and blastogenic responsiveness of the patients' lymphocytes to autologous tumor and mitogens, were of no prognostic value.