The
Biological Response Modifiers Programme (BRMP) is a comprehensive programme of the National Cancer Institute to evaluate the
therapeutic effect of
biological substances that might be useful in the treatment of
cancer.
Immunomodulation agents,
interferons,
cytokines, growth and maturation factors, antitumour effector cells and
antibodies, and
chalones are all potential
biological response modifiers (BRM). The BRMP has a
biologic preclinical evaluation capability whereby new agents can be evaluated as potential BRM in preclinical models. Effective
biological response modifying activity in preclinical models with a therapeutic efficacy in
cancer is a requirement for an agent to continue on into clinical testing. Initial results with
interferon, thymic factors and other immune modulators are interesting but very preliminary. These agents are being tested for the ability to alter
biological responses as well as for toxic and
therapeutic effects. Optimization of the
biological response modification capability may be predictive for therapeutic efficacy. Purified
cytokines, specific tumour-associated
antigens, and
monoclonal antibody directed toward antigenic specificiteis on the
cancer cell all provide exciting avenues for future investigation. Components of the BRMP will be described and preliminary results with selected BRM will be presented. The interaction between BRM and
cancer chemotherapy should be investigated further. Certain
cytokines are known to enhance bone-marrow-stem cell function and many of these may be useful in conjunction with
cancer chemotherapy to lessen the toxic on normal cell populations often encountered with
chemotherapy.