title: Does maintenance therapy with alpha interferon stabilize cancer growth? A pilot study.
abstract: A pilot study was undertaken to test whether alpha interferon (alpha-IFN) maintenance could continue to stabilize cancer measurements after induction therapy. Twenty-one patients who achieved stable disease at the end of their induction treatment were randomized to receive weekly maintenance with human lymphoblastoid interferon (HLBI) (3 MU/m2, i.m.) or to be followed and not given interferon. There were 12 patients in the maintenance groups and 9 in the control observation group. There was no time difference in disease progression between the two arms. This article considers the relevance of the stable disease category in trials of interferon.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D011897:Random Allocation
chemical_list: D007370:Interferon Type I