title: Response rates of patients with metastatic melanoma to high-dose intravenous interleukin-2 after prior exposure to alpha-interferon or low-dose interleukin-2.
abstract: We evaluated 567 patients with metastatic melanoma who were treated with high-dose intravenous interleukin-2 (IL-2) to determine whether prior treatment with either alpha-interferon or low-dose IL-2 altered the rates of response to subsequent high-dose IL-2. Of the 567 patients treated, 46 patients had received low-dose IL-2 before, and 78 had received alpha-interferon before. The response rate for patients who had received IL-2 before compared with IL-2 naïve patients was 15% versus 21% respectively (p = 0.39). The response rate for patients who had received alpha-interferon before compared with patients who had not was 13% versus 21% (p = 0.084). Therefore, prior low-dose IL-2 therapy does not appear to prevent a subsequent response to high-dose IL-2. There is a trend for patients who received alpha-interferon before to have a lower-response rate to subsequent high-dose IL-2, but the number of patients evaluated in this study is too small to definitively answer this question.
authors.affiliation: Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Weinreich
authors.forename: Steven A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011994:Recombinant Proteins
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D007370:Interferon Type I; D007376:Interleukin-2; D011994:Recombinant Proteins