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Emil J. Freireich, MD

JAMA. 1975;234(12):1258.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Immunotherapy is rapidly developing as the fourth major approach to cancer treatment. At the present time, active nonspecific immunotherapy with BCG vaccine, Corynebacterium parvum, methanol extraction residue of BCG (MER), and levamisole hydrochloride are under the most intensive investigation, although the use of other adjuvants and of other approaches such as active-specific immunotherapy and adoptive immunotherapy are receiving more attention and have yielded preliminary positive results. The major purpose of active nonspecific immunotherapy with BCG is to prolong the disease-free interval after surgery, the duration of remission after chemotherapy, and the survival of treated patients. Systemic immunotherapy with BCG vaccine is generally thought to be ineffective when administered without first reducing by surgery, irradiation, or chemotherapy the total amount of tumor present in the patient.

The exception to this is the use of topical or intralesional, active nonspecific immunotherapy. As pointed out in the article by Richman et al in . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Editorial Board, JAMA

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