title: Successful treatment of Erdheim-Chester disease, a non-Langerhans-cell histiocytosis, with interferon-alpha.
abstract: Erdheim-Chester disease is a rare non-Langerhans histiocytosis with multisystem involvement. To date, there is no standard treatment for this disorder, and more than half of the patients succumb within 3 years. Because interferon-alpha promotes the terminal differentiation of histiocytes and dendritic cells, we hypothesized that this molecule would be a useful therapy for Erdheim-Chester disease. We therefore treated 3 patients with advanced disease with interferon-alpha at a starting dose of 3 to 6 x 10(6) units, which was later reduced, during maintenance, to 1 x 10(6) units subcutaneous 3 times per week. Marked improvement was noted in all patients, with substantial retro-orbital disease regression within 1 month. Improvement in bone lesions, pain, diabetes insipidus, and other manifestations was gradual over many months. Responses were durable (3+ to 4.5+ years). Our observations suggest that this well-tolerated therapy has a significant effect on the course and outcome of Erdheim-Chester disease.
authors: Phase I Program, Division of Cancer Medicine and University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, Texas, USA.
authors: Fadi
authors: F
authors: Braiteh
authors: Cynthia
authors: C
authors: Boxrud
authors: Bita
authors: B
authors: Esmaeli
authors: Razelle
authors: R
authors: Kurzrock
mesh_terms: D031249:Erdheim-Chester Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha