Is cigarette smoking related to alcohol use during the 8 years following treatment for adolescent alcohol and other drug abuse?
The significant declines observed in smoking from adolescence into young adulthood were contrary to expectations, indicating that this behaviour may be less stable than previously thought among adolescent AOD abusers. Smoking involvement over time was greater within the highest alcohol use trajectory, consistent with previous evidence for a positive relationship between these behaviours. However, when compared with the general population smoking rates remained very high regardless of alcohol involvement. Thus, individuals treated for AOD abuse as adolescents remained at elevated risk for tobacco related disease regardless of post-treatment AOD use outcomes.
Despite the importance of lymphocytes in mediating the antitumor activity of IL-2, this study shows that tumor progression in cancer patients chronically treated with low-dose IL-2 after response or SD during IL-2 induction cycles is not associated with a significant decline in lymphocyte, T lymphocyte or NK cell numbers. Further studies, carried out to analyze the functional status of immune cells at the time of tumor progression, will be necessary to define the role of immunity in cancer patients progressing under IL-2 chronic therapy.