The Medicine Branch is a major clinical facility of the NCI. Its activities are divided between clinical therapeutic trials in cancer patients and related laboratory research. Clinical trials of cancer treatment are currently underway in breast cancer, ovarian cancer, Hodgkins's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, testicular tumors, kaposi's sarcoma, AIDS, soft tissue sarcomas, prostate cancer, pheochromocytoma and melanoma. Phase I-Ii clinical trails have been completed this year on the following new experimental agents: TCNP and CBDCA. Phase I-II trials continue on TNF + gamma-interferon, dideoxycytidine, diethyldithiocarbamate, I.P. LAK and IL-2, and intraperitoneal chemotherapy of aclacinomycin. In 1986-1987 the Medicine Branch staff published or has accepted for publication 140 papers, articles, or book chapters. This is one of the largest numbers of scientific publications in the history of the Branch. Forty-one active protocols are maintained primarily by the Medicine Branch and over 1500 patients are on clinical trails, 1412 (94%) at the Medicine Branch, 72% (5%) at the Navy-MOB and 16 (1%) at the University of Maryland. Details of the clinical and laboratory studies will be reviewed in the subsequent sections. Additional summaries of clinical studies are summarized under reports entitled. Clinical Program in Breast Carcinoma. Laboratory research of the Branch is summarized under reports entitled, Mechanisms of Drug Resistance, Multidrug Resistance and Cisplatin Resistance, Cytogenetic Studies, Adoptive Cellular Immunotherapy of Cancer, Mechanisms of Hormone Dependence of Human Malignancy, Transforming Genes and Determinants of Hormone-Independence in Hormone Responsive Human Malignancies, and Genetic Control of Human Colon and Breast Cancer.
