Role of interferon in clinical practice.

Interferons are currently the most widely used biological response modifiers. They are of high clinical value in haematological malignancies (chronic myelogenous leukaemia, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma), in solid tumours (malignant melanoma, hypernephroma, pancreas neoplasms, carcinoid tumours, Kaposi's sarcoma, glioma, in ovarium, cervix and bladder carcinoma, and in basalioma) and in infectious diseases (chronic hepatitis B, chronic non-A/non-B hepatitis, chronic delta hepatitis, AIDS, Papova virus and Rhinovirus infections, leishmaniasis, leprosy) and some other conditions. Although the mechanism of action of interferons has not been explained in every detail these agents are promising therapeutic means in a number of diseases.

[Problems raised by the treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma in subjects with AIDS]. / Problèmes posés par les traitements du sarcome de Kaposi chez les sujets atteints de S. I. D. A.

Kaposi's Syndrome (K. S.) was defined as a virus induced immunogenic tumour responding to interferon. It can be used as a guideline for therapeutical trials in A. I. D. S. K. S. mortality is 13%. K. S. + O. I. (opportunistic infections) mortality reaches 70% and O. I. mortality is approximately 50%. Therefore treating O. I. is a must but it is not mentioned in the paper. Attempts made to modify immunodepression, usual K. S. treatments, experimental treatments based upon similar pathogenicity (like systemic lupus erythematosus, Hansen's disease, preneoplasia dyskeratosis) were unsuccessful. Trials with alpha recombinant interferon realised at the Sloan Kettering Memorial for Cancer in New York are summarized for 74 patients and are in preliminary interpretation. Our study is based upon 13 cases studied for 14 to 4 months and comes up to the same conclusions using 18 to 36 million units/day for 6 months (6 cases) and 3 to 4 months (7 cases). For 6 full treatments the results are: 2 K. S. were cleaned up after 8 and 3 months follow up, 4 K. S. with O. I.: 3 remissions and then relapses and 1 stabilization, for 7 current treatments: 2 had to be discontinued because of bad tolerance, 1 stabilization and 4 remissions. For all treatments a decrease and a lesser gravity of O. I. can be noted during treatment. Besides flu-like syndromes, main clinical side effects, are: asthenia, general condition impairment, 2 fits were observed for which I.N.F. cannot be clearly incriminated. Daily treatment compelling and surveillance are real drawbacks. Different types of better used interferon will probably yield interesting results (40% regression or improvement).