Predictors for long-term survival after interdisciplinary salvage surgery for advanced or recurrent gynecologic cancers.

Background And Objectives: We wanted to identify factors which allow predicting long-term survival after pelvic exenteration (PE) for locally advanced or recurrent gynecologic malignancies.

Methods: All patients undergoing PE at our institution from 1983 to 2002 were screened. In 203 cases data were obtainable and analyzed with respect to factors predicting outcome considering morbidity, mortality, and survival.

Tumor necrosis factor alpha sensitizes low epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-expressing carcinomas for anti-EGFR therapy.

Analysis of 1,060 xenotransplants derived from cancer cell lines as wel as spontaneously occurring tumors from the larynx, pharynx, mammary gland, uterine cervix, and vulva revealed that tumor regression induced by treatment with monoclonal antibodies (EMD 55900 and EMD 72000 against the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) could be enhanced by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) treatment in vivo. Moreover, tumor that primarily do not respond to antibody treatment can be made suscep tible by additional TNF-alpha treatment. To investigate the in vivo effects of monoclonal antibodies, we treated tumors derived from cell lines (A431 and Detroit 562) as well as spontaneously occurring squamous cell carci nomas and adenocarcinomas (transplanted on NMRI-nu/nu mice) gener ally with EMD 55900 (40 microg/g mouse) and its humanized version EMD 72000 (40 microg/g mouse).