5-YEAR SURVIVAL IN BREAST-CANCER TREATED WITH ADJUVANT IMMUNOTHERAPY

In this follow-up report of the treatment of primary breast cancer wit h adjuvant immunotherapy, a total of 95 patients were studied: 46 pati ents with stage I breast cancer and 49 patients with stage II breast c ancer. All patients underwent standard surgical treatment and received immunotherapy as adjuvant treatment. Patients received a primary seri es of eight doses (1 mL of tumor-associated antigen preparation given as 0.2 mL intradermally and 0.8 mL subcutaneously) given over 8 weeks, and then booster injections every 3 months for at least 2 years. The 5-year survival with adjuvant immunotherapy was 83% for those with neg ative axillary nodes and 53% for those with positive nodes; this compa res favorably with national 5-year survival statistics from two other studies (node-negative, 72% and 83%; node-positive, 51% and 59%). Base d on these data, the addition of immunotherapy to other adjuvant thera pies in randomized prospective trials seems both reasonable and justif ied.