Biotherapy with interferon--1988.

Abstract

In the past decade, interferon, the first of a new class of biologic response modifiers, has undergone extensive Phase I and II clinical evaluation in a broad spectrum of cancers, including hematologic malignancies, lymphomas, and solid tumors. Interferon has been found to have important clinical activity in hairy-cell leukemia, low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, cutaneous T cell lymphoma, chronic myelogenous leukemia, previously untreated multiple myeloma, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related Kaposi's sarcoma, malignant carcinoid tumors, intravesically treated superficial bladder cancer, intraperitoneally treated ovarian carcinoma, renal cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma. Recombinant DNA technology has produced molecules such as the interferons, which are antigenic and can induce antibody formation as part of a generalized immune response. The frequency of antibody occurrence, the magnitude of the antibody response, and the type of antibody induced by the interferons is thought to be related to several factors. These include the specific type of neoplasm for which interferon was administered; the specie of interferon administered; the dose, route, schedule, and duration of interferon administered; and the assay method and sampling time used to determine the antibody titer. Opinions and clinical observations about how these antibodies affect the clinical course of a disease vary among investigators. Some studies have demonstrated that antibody formation is associated with an abrogation of the clinical response, while others have not found any effects on the clinical course of a disease due to antibody presence.