Postsurgical adjuvant therapy for melanoma

Abstract

IFN-alpha appears to be effective as adjuvant therapy for high risk melanoma patients and the risk/benefit ratio appears to be very favorable. The authors' next goal is to separate those patients who might benefit from adjuvant therapy from those who are cured after the surgical intervention only.

A pilot study of interferon-alpha-2b dose reduction in the adjuvant therapy of high-risk melanoma

“…The Dermatologic Cooperative Oncology Group (DeCOG) trial demonstrated durable improvement in both RFS and OS [ 29 ], while the French Cooperative Group trial demonstrated significant extension of RFS and a clear trend towards increased overall survival ( p = 0.059) [ 30 ]. The Italian Skin Cancer Foundation, Austrian Malignant Melanoma Cooperative Group, and Scottish Melanoma Group clinical trials demonstrated significant improvement in RFS, but no improvement in OS [ 31 – 33 ]. However, no improvement in either RFS or OS was seen in the WHO Melanoma Programme, AIM HIGH Study-United Kingdom Coordinating Committee on Cancer Research, EORTC 18871, or ECOG 1690 trials [ 22 , 34 – 36 ].…”

A simple and rapid HPLC method for quantitation of interferon-α2b in dosage forms and delivery systems

“…Due to this broad spectrum of biological activities, a variety of potential therapeutic uses have been established for interferons. In particular, genetically engineered interferon-␣2 (rh IFN-␣2) produced by recombinant DNA technology, is currently being used worldwide in management of various neoplastic disorders and chronic viral diseases including hairy-cell leukemia, multiple myeloma, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) [5][6][7], renal cell carcinoma [8], malignant melanoma [9], and hepatitis [10]. Interferon-␣2b (IFN-␣2b), available in market as both lyophilized and soluble injectable preparations, is the most widely used subclass in clinical settings.…”