title: Interferon-beta therapy for malignant melanoma: the dose is crucial for inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis of melanoma cells.
abstract: We investigated the anti-tumor effect of human interferon-beta (HuIFN-beta) against malignant melanoma. In vitro study revealed that HuIFN-beta not only inhibited proliferation of melanoma cells (seven cell lines: MM-AN, MM-BP, MM-LH, MM-RU, PM-WK, RPM-EP, RPM-MC) but also induced apoptosis in a dose dependent fashion, though the sensitivity to HuIFN-beta was different among cell lines. In addition, we administered HuIFN-beta into cutaneous metastatic lesions of melanoma and evaluated clinical and histopathological effects. Although the size of the metastatic cutaneous lesion did not change by the intralesional injection of HuIFN-beta, histopathological examination revealed apoptotic changes of melanoma cells along with dense lymphohistiocytic infiltration. The present study confirmed direct and indirect inhibitory effects of HuIFN-beta on human melanoma cells and suggests that local higher concentration of HuIFN-beta is needed to eradicate melanoma lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan. kubohtm@hsp.md.shinshu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hitomi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ashida
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kageshita
authors.forename: Akifumi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saida
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D015536:Down-Regulation; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D015552:Injections, Intralesional; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008545:Melanoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D016899:Interferon-beta