Effects Of Concurrent Infections And Their Toxins On The Course Of Leukemia

Abstract

Of all the recorded cases of so-called “spontaneous” regression in cancer or “spontaneous” remission in leukemia, the great majority have occurred in patients who developed an acute concurrent infection, inflammation or fever, principally streptococcal infections. Before studying this phenomenon in leukemia, approximately 350 histories of cases of malignant tumors in which such complications may have played a salutary role were assembled for study. In 167 of these patients (152 inoperable, 15 operable, untreated) the neoplasms disappeared, and 62 of these remained free from recurrence or metastases when last traced 5 to 44 years later. Among the 73 determinate operable cases in which infection or inflammation developed before or after surgical removal, 52 patients were traced 5 to 54 years later, free from disease. However, if the infection developed following heavy radiation or if the disease was very far advanced, only temporary or partial regression of the neoplasms occurred. The beneficial effects of acute concurrent infections or fever on leukemia have also been observed by a large number of investigators. Over 70 such histories have been reported in the literature and many others have been cited briefly. Often the infection did not occur until the terminal stage of the leukemia, and this may have been one reason why permanent benefit following such infections has not been reported in cases of leukemia, although 36 patients with malignant lymphoma remained free from further evidence of disease after concurrent infection or toxin therapy. As to how acute infections, inflammation or bacterial toxin therapy may exert their apparently beneficial effects on patients with cancer or leukemia, it is known that neoplastic cells are more sensitive to heat than are normal cells. However, in addition to this factor, it appears that infections or their toxins may activate or mobilize various tissues or systems in the body which may be less active than normal in these patients.