title: Intramuscular low dose alpha-2B interferon and etretinate for treatment of mycosis fungoides.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mycosis fungoides is a lymphoma of cutaneous origin characterized by a proliferation of cells with a T phenotype.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this pilot study, 13 men with mycosis fungoides in various stages were treated with alpha-2b interferon and etretinate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In ten of them, such a therapy proved to be effective (7 complete responses, 3 partial responses), sometimes with prolonged remissions (up to 20 months, and still persistent) after suspension of the drugs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We chose low-dose interferon administration in order to prevent side effects, which are said to be dose-dependent. In our experience this is not true, but this drawback seems to be overcome by the very good, sometimes spectacular, response to this combination therapy, particularly in low stage forms of the disease. This fact, compared with results provided by other groups, prompts us to plan new research protocols based on associations of retinoids with different interferon types (or even associations of different interferons), because we believe they will have an important place in treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma in future.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Dermatology, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Altomare
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Capella
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Pigatto
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Finzi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005050:Etretinate / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009182:Mycosis Fungoides / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012074:Remission Induction; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D005050:Etretinate