title: Recombinant gamma-interferon as first line therapy for high risk myelodysplastic syndromes. Italian MDS Study Group.
abstract: Thirty patients affected by previously untreated high risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) were treated with human recombinant gamma-interferon (r-IFN-gamma): 15 of them with a higher dose (HD) of 0.1 mg/sqm, three times a week and 15 with a lower dose (LD) of 0.01 mg/sqm, three times a week, both doses administered subcutaneously (s.c.). The therapy was fairly well tolerated and few major toxic events were documented. Sustained improvement of one or more clinico-hematologic parameters was observed in 43.3% of the patients (26.6% and 60.0% for the lower and higher dose, respectively). Median survival time from the start of IFN-gamma therapy was 15+ months (range: 1-26) for patients with refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB) versus 5 months (range 2-12) for patients with RAEB in transformation (RAEB-t); 15+ months (range 1-26) for HD patients versus 8 months (range 2-23) for patients treated with LD regimen; 16+ months (range 9-26) for responders versus 7 months (range 1-22) for nonresponders. All these three variables (diagnosis, treatment, and response to treatment) turned out to be statistically significant (p = at least less than 0.01) at Cox's analysis.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Maiolo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cortelezzi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Calori
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Polli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D007371:Interferon-gamma