Different antitumor mechanisms of interferon-alpha in the treatment of hairy cell leukemia and renal cell cancer.
There is increasing evidence for the therapeutic effectiveness of Interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) in malignant diseases. However, the antitumor mechanisms of IFN-alpha are not known. Using two examples, hairy Cell leukemia (HCL) and renal cell cancer (RCC), it is shown that the requirements for successful IFN-alpha therapy of HCL and RCC are different. In HCL low doses of IFN-alpha are sufficient to treat the disease. The reduction of hairy cells in peripheral blood is detectable within the first week of treatment. The endogenous IFN-alpha production in these patients is impaired as demonstrated by the lack of IFN-alpha induction and by low levels of 2-5 oligoadenylate synthetase in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. A possible reason for deficient endogenous IFN-alpha production is the lack of monocytes in HCL patients. It is likely that therapy with low doses of IFN-alpha substitutes for the endogenous IFN-alpha deficiency. In RCC comparatively high doses of IFN-alpha are necessary for a clinical response. There may be differences between the effectiveness of natural and recombinant alpha interferons. High doses given within a week seem to be more important than high single doses, which therefore suggests the need of daily treatment. Responses of RCC to IFN-alpha therapy are usually seen several months after the beginning of therapy. These differences in the effectiveness of IFN-alpha therapy for HCL and RCC suggest that IFN-alpha acts differently in the treatment of each disease.
Porzsolt
F
F
Department of Medicine III and Tumor Center, University of Ulm, Federal Republic of Germany.
Digel
W
W
Jacobsen
H
H
Mittnacht
S
S
Kirchner
H
H
Heimpel
H
H
D015088:2',5'-Oligoadenylate Synthetase / Q000097:blood; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000172:deficiency / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D007943:Leukemia, Hairy Cell / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008525:Medroxyprogesterone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D013156:Splenectomy
D007370:Interferon Type I; D015088:2',5'-Oligoadenylate Synthetase; D008525:Medroxyprogesterone