[Vitamin A and cancer (author's transl)]

During the past decade, an increasing number of publications have been dealing with the experimental and clinical activity of vitamin A on epithelial neoplasms. Many studies suggest that vitamin A and its analogs may be able to interfere with chemical carcinogenesis and to modify favorably the immune status of tumor bearers by mechanisms incompletely known. The use of vitamin A and of its analogs have been shown to enhance the effects of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy in the treatment of epithelial cancer, possibly because they appear to destabilize lysosomal membranes and contribute to maintenance of the differenciated state in epithelial tissues. The potential role of such substances in preventing neoplastic transformation deserves further study.