Real-life Experience With Pegylated Interferon and Conventional Interferon in Adjuvant Melanoma Therapy

Abstract

Interferon (IFN) is the most studied and the only approved adjuvant therapy for melanoma. There are 2 formulations of IFN, conventional IFN and pegylated IFN (peg-IFN), which have been investigated in multiple randomized clinical trials. We have compared the feasibility and tolerability of low-dose conventional IFN and peg-IFN in real life, outside the controlled settings of clinical trials. In this study, we analyzed 99 patients with resected melanoma, who were treated with either conventional IFN (n=48) or with peg-IFN (n=51), retrospectively. The median treatment duration in conventional IFN group was 13.3 versus 16.5 months in peg-IFN (P=0.52). Moreover, patients with peg-IFN tended to have dose reduction or treatment discontinuation due to adverse events (AE) significantly more often. In addition, neutropenia occurred significantly more often in peg-IFN group versus IFN group (n=2; 5% conventional vs. n=16; 36.4% peg-IFN, P=0.00). More than 90% of these patients developed only grade 2 neutropenia and there were no reported infections. We conclude that the 100 µg flat dose peg-IFN, which is commonly referred to as "low-dose," actually represents a higher dose of IFN, which consequently results in more frequent dose reductions and discontinuation of treatment. The use of peg-IFN is certainly more convenient for the patient in terms of application, thus close monitoring, early medical interventions, and dose adjustments to avoid treatment discontinuation are crucial for compliance.

Immuntherapie – Die neue Ära in der Onkologie

“…Also hereby, it must be taken into account that partly severe side effects may limit the treatment. Many efforts are undertaken to optimize the effect and at the same time reduce the side effects 74 . In the context of malignant melanoma, a marginally significant impact on the progression-free survival after resection of stage III melanoma could be confirmed in comparison to clinical observation strategy 75 .…”

“…Zu beachten ist auch hier, dass eine Limitierung durch teils starke Nebenwirkungen auftreten kann. Daher gibt es Bestrebungen, die Wirkung zu optimieren und gleichzeitig die Nebenwirkungen zu reduzieren 74 . Beim Malignen Melanom konnte ein grenzwertig signifikanter Einfluss auf das progressionsfreie Überleben nach erfolgter Resektion eines Stadium III Melanoms im Vergleich zur klinischen Beobachtung festgestellt werden 75 .…”

Potassium Ascorbate with Ribose: Promising Therapeutic Approach for Melanoma Treatment

“…Among adjuvant therapies, IFN- α is the only approved treatment for melanoma [8]. Because of the significant side effects of IFN- α (e.g., nausea, fatigue, and neutropenia) [9, 10], and the short-lived response to this treatment, research is focused on novel or reappraised adjuvant therapies in support to the conventional ones.…”

Interferon-induced progression of autoimmune thyroiditis with enlarged thyroid glands in gynecological patient: A case report and literature review

“…Interferon (IFN) is widely used cytokine as an adjuvant treatment of malignant diseases such as melanoma [1], renal cell carcinoma [2,3], hairy cell leukemia [4], Kaposi's sarcoma [5]. It also has been extensively used to treat hepatitis B and C [6,7], as antiviral therapeutic agent.…”