The Section has made considerable progress during the past year. Dr. Zhiqiang Zou, a post-doctoral IRTA fellow, was hired in September, 1994. He has been involved in experiments relating to human papillomavirus neoplastic transformation. His skills have synergized with others in the Section, resulting in the preparation of a manuscript we will be submitting to Science. In addition, two guest researchers, Drs. Margaret Alexander and Minh Ho, joined our laboratory in the fall and are satisfying their thesis requirements as part of their fellowship training in Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Endocrinology, respectively. Dr. Alexander has succeeded in demonstrating for the first time that effective cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL) can be generated using a HPV-16 E7 peptide epitope. this manuscript has been submitted to The Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Ho's research has demonstrated that a gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist inhibits the growth of ovarian tumor cells by a mechanism involving depletion of intracellular insulin-like growth factor- 2. Finally a manuscript entitled """"""""Insulin-like growth factor-2 mediates epidermal growth factor induced mitogenesis in cervical cancer cells"""""""" has been accepted for publication in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences. The Section's clinical initiatives have involved two novel protocols. One protocol involves the use of continuous intraperitoneal hyperthermic perfusion of carboplatin to treat patients with ovarian, tubal or primary peritoneal adenocarcinoma. The protocol has thus far accrued two patients. A second protocol has just recently been approved by the IRB and is designed to investigate the immunologic effects of a peptide epitope vaccine to treat patients with advanced cervical cancer.
