title: Interferon-alpha/5-fluorouracil: a novel outpatient chemo/immunotherapy for progressive metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
abstract: In metastatic renal cell carcinoma, most conventional antineoplastic drugs have yielded no or little efficacy. To evaluate the tolerance and therapeutic efficacy of second line chemo/immunotherapies, we treated patients with advanced metastatic renal cell carcinoma upon progression after previous antineoplastic therapy employing an outpatient combination of subcutaneous (SC) recombinant interferon-alpha (rIFN-alpha) and intravenous (IV) 5-fluorouracil(5-FU). Thirty-three patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma received SC doses thrice weekly of rIFN-alpha at 10 million U/m2 over 8 consecutive weeks. Additionally, patients received IV 5-FU at 750 mg/m2 in weeks 1-3 and 5-7; treatment cycles were repeated until disease progression. Of 33 patients, one achieved a complete remission (response duration, 24 months) and two patients presented with partial remissions (median response duration, 7 months) of pulmonary metastases upon rIFN-alpha/5-FU after failing SC recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) and rIFN-alpha. The present chemo/immunotherapy regimen was overall well tolerated with low to moderate systemic toxicity and predominantly constitutional symptoms i.e., fever, chills, and malaise. In summary, the second line outpatient chemo/immunotherapy regimen of SC rIFN-alpha/IV 5-FU demonstrated a limited albeit significant efficacy in pretreated patients with progressive metastatic renal cell cancer.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology & Oncology, MHH Univ Medical Center, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lopez Hanninen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Poliwoda
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Atzpodien
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha; D005472:Fluorouracil