title: Real-life experience with pegylated interferon and conventional interferon in adjuvant melanoma therapy.
abstract: Interferon (IFN) is the most studied and the only approved adjuvant therapy for melanoma. There are 2 formulations of IFN, conventional IFN and pegylated IFN (peg-IFN), which have been investigated in multiple randomized clinical trials. We have compared the feasibility and tolerability of low-dose conventional IFN and peg-IFN in real life, outside the controlled settings of clinical trials. In this study, we analyzed 99 patients with resected melanoma, who were treated with either conventional IFN (n=48) or with peg-IFN (n=51), retrospectively. The median treatment duration in conventional IFN group was 13.3 versus 16.5 months in peg-IFN (P=0.52). Moreover, patients with peg-IFN tended to have dose reduction or treatment discontinuation due to adverse events (AE) significantly more often. In addition, neutropenia occurred significantly more often in peg-IFN group versus IFN group (n=2; 5% conventional vs. n=16; 36.4% peg-IFN, P=0.00). More than 90% of these patients developed only grade 2 neutropenia and there were no reported infections. We conclude that the 100 µg flat dose peg-IFN, which is commonly referred to as "low-dose," actually represents a higher dose of IFN, which consequently results in more frequent dose reductions and discontinuation of treatment. The use of peg-IFN is certainly more convenient for the patient in terms of application, thus close monitoring, early medical interventions, and dose adjustments to avoid treatment discontinuation are crucial for compliance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sima
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rozati
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Naef
authors.forename: Mitchell P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Levesque
authors.forename: Lars E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: French
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dummer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; C417083:peginterferon alfa-2b