BACKGROUND Interferon beta-la and -1b have been increasingly used for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). The most frequent systemic adverse effects are flu-like symptoms. Laboratory abnormalities include asymptomatic leukopenia and elevated hepatic transaminases. Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) refers to a spectrum of hematological disorders which can occur in different situations. Severa...

Recently, the clinical efficacy of interferon beta-1b (IFNbeta-1b) was demonstrated for secondary progressive (SP) multiple sclerosis in a European multicentre study. We evaluated the effect of IFNbeta-1b treatment on the rate of development of hypointense T(1) MRI lesions, a putative marker of axonal damage. Unenhanced T(1)-weighted images were obtained in a subgroup of 95 multiple sclerosis p...

The volume of hypointense lesions on T1 weighted brain MRI represents an increasingly used MR endpoint in phase III MS treatment trials. In this study we evaluated the reproducibility of hypointense T1 lesion volume quantification in a cohort of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. The gadolinium enhanced T1 weighted brain MR images of 33 MS patients from three European centers were used in this s...

Novel therapeutic strategies are needed to treat patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Combination therapy of sorafenib and type I interferon (IFN) has substantial activity in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. We investigated the antiproliferative effects of sorafenib in combination with pegylated interferon-α2b (PEG-IFN-α2b) on human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)...

Effects of TNF-a, IFN-c and IL-b on normal human bronchial epithelial cells. C. Kampf, A.J. Relova, S. Sandler, G.M. Roomans. #ERS Journals 1999. ABSTRACT: Several diseases affecting the airways such as asthma are associated with both epithelial damage and increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. To investigate the possible relation between cytokines and epithelial damage, the effects of...

OBJECTIVE To study changes in brain volume measured monthly in patients treated for relapsing multiple sclerosis due to loss of tissue and the appearance of inflammation. DESIGN AND PATIENTS The results from T2/fluid-attenuated inversion recovery axial images from 13 consecutive monthly 3-T brain magnetic resonance imaging tests conducted on 74 patients diagnosed with relapsing multiple scler...

PURPOSE To explore the applicability of subtraction magnetic resonance (MR) images to (a) detect active multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions, (b) directly quantify lesion load change, and (c) detect treatment effects (distinguish treatment arms) in a placebo-controlled multicenter clinical trial by comparing the subtraction scheme with a conventional pair-wise comparison of nonregistered MR images. ...