Long-Term Adjuvant Interferon Treatment of Human Osteosarcoma: A pilot study

Immune approaches to treating osteosarcoma

“…Despite the lack of specific antigens, clinical trials of immunomodulatory approaches have consistently yielded suggestions of clinical activity. 2,3,[5][6][7] Some of these approaches are supported by extensive preclinical data. Among the more extensively tested in osteosarcoma is the use of MTP-PE.…”

“…20 This was largely based on promising results obtained in prior Scandinavian studies. [1][2][3] Whether these approaches have sufficient activity to warrant their use in the routine clinical management of osteosarcoma remains both widely debated and a subject of continued clinical studies. 25,26 In the manuscript by Yu, et al an approach to immunizing dendritic cells is explored.…”

“…In the context of osteosarcoma, this has manifested itself as investigation of multiple strategies including activation of macrophages with immunomodulatory drugs [muramyl tripeptide-phosphatidyl ethanolamine (MTP-PE), Junovan] or cytokine administration [systemic interferon or inhaled granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GMCSF)] all of which have been tested in Phase 2 and/or Phase 3 osteosarcoma clinical trials and will be discussed further subsequently. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In the manuscript by Yu, et al in this issue of Cancer Biology & Therapy, a preclinical study of vaccination using dendritic cells exposed to osteosarcoma total RNA is reported. 8 They successfully demonstrate the ability to electroporate total RNA prepared from an osteosarcoma cell line into dendritic cells.…”

Strategies and developments of immunotherapies in osteosarcoma

“…However, to the best of our knowledge, little published data exists on the clinical efficacy of type I IFNs. In a pilot study of patients demonstrating nonmetastatic OS, the 5-year disease-free survival rate was 63% in patients that had been treated with single-agent adjuvant IFN-α over a period of 3-5 years (25). A Scandinavian study demonstrated an apparent increase in relapse-free survival rates in patients exhibiting primary high-grade localized OS, who received IFN-α as a single adjuvant to surgery (21).…”

Interferon-α as the only adjuvant treatment in high-grade osteosarcoma: Long term results of the Karolinska Hospital series

“…Before 1976, radiotherapy was given preoperatively to the primary tumour area in 10 patients at doses ranging from 10 to 64 Gy [10]. Thereafter, preoperative radiotherapy was omitted and postoperative radiotherapy reserved for a few patients with intra-lesional surgical margins [12]. No patients received prophylactic lung irradiation.…”