title: Interferon-alpha and interleukin-2 as treatment for leukemia relapse after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.
abstract: We treated 12 patients with leukemia relapse after allogenic bone marrow transplantation with a combination of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) ((2.5-5.0) x 10(6) u/m2 subcutaneously three times a week) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) ((1.8-3.6) x 10(6) IU/m2 subcutaneously five times a week) to determine the toxicity and efficacy of combination cytokine therapy in this setting. The median age of the patients was 39 years (range: 16-50). There were nine females and three males. The median time to relapse from BMT was 98 days (range: 0-963). At the time of relapse, six patients had AML, four patients had CML (two in blast crisis and two in chronic phase with clonal evolution), and one patient had lymphoblastic lymphoma. Combination cytokine therapy was started a median of 108 days post BMT (range: 37-2404). Nine patients treated at the higher dose level required a 50% dose reduction because of toxicity or GVHD (three CNS, two GVHD, one high fever, one diarrhoea with hypotension, and one pericarditis). At a lower dose level, 2 of 10 patients had their treatment discontinued because of toxicity or GVHD. Six patients developed clinical findings consistent with acute GVHD while on combination cytokine therapy. Two patients responded to combination cytokine therapy: one with CML and one with AML. Combination cytokine therapy is feasible in the setting of relapse post allogeneic BMT. The combination of IL-2 1.8 x 10(6) IU/m2 five times a week with IFN-2 2.5 x 10(6) U/m2 three times a week seems to be tolerable, and merits further study in this setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giralt
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Talpaz
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Van Besien
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rondón
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mehra
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Khouri
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Estey
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001752:Blast Crisis; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease; D006801:Humans; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007938:Leukemia / Q000628:therapy*; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000628:therapy*; D018579:Patient Selection; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012008:Recurrence
chemical_list: D007370:Interferon Type I; D007376:Interleukin-2; D011994:Recombinant Proteins