Partially purified human leukocyte (alpha) interferon was administered i.m. at a dose of 3 x 10(6) units/day to 19 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Five patients (26%) showed partial responses; two patients (10.5%), objective minor responses; three patients (16%), mixed effects (evidence of biological effect with regression of some lesions but concomitant progression); two patient...

OBJECTIVE Interferon is the first-choice therapy for HCV-positive mixed cryoglobulinemia, but only a small fraction of the patients show long-term recovery from the disease. In non-responders or relapsers, the second-line therapy (high dose interferon) generally is not effective. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of leukocyte interferon as a second-line therapy in patients...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection is characterized by rapidly progressive liver disease with adverse prognosis in most patients. Although interferon is the only approved anti-HDV therapy, evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of its various regimens is either old or scattered. MATERIALS AND METHODS We searched systematically Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, the Cochrane Central Regist...

H C virus (HCV) infects 170 million people worldwide (1). The infection becomes chronic in 85%–90% of cases with potential to cause cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (2). Treatment of HCV infection has evolved significantly over the last 20 years since the introduction of interferon-α in 1991. Initial studies using interferon were disappointing with response...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study was to determine whether type III IFN can modulate the autophagic response in human osteosarcoma cell. METHODS Human osteosarcoma cell were treated with Interferon-λ1. We investigated that Interferon-λ1 could inhibit the invasive ability of osteosarcoma cells by Matrigel invasion assay. Autophagy were assessed by acridine orange staining, MDC stainin...

BACKGROUND Interferon alfa is the only effective treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis C. Forty percent of patients have an initial response to this therapy, but most subsequently relapse. We compared the effect of interferon alone with that of interferon plus oral ribavirin for relapses of chronic hepatitis C. METHODS We studied 345 patients with chronic hepatitis C who relapsed afte...

In 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved peginterferon-alfa-2b (Sylatron ; Merck/ScheringPlough, Kenilworth, NJ) for the adjuvant treatment of patients with resected node-positive melanoma based on the results of a single, large European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) trial showing a statistically significant improvement in the relapse-free surviv...

PHARMACOLOGY AND TOXICOLOGY T HE PHARMACOLOGY of interferons has been studied with human leukocyte interferon and with mouse and rabbit interferons. These have a short half-life in the blood, irrespective of the route of administration, though the most rapid clearance follows the intravenous route; intramuscular injections result in peak blood levels after 2-4 hr, lasting for 4-6 hr. With intra...

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been associated with the development of myocarditis in humans. Our established mouse model for CMV myocarditis allows detailed investigation of the immunopathogenic mechanisms and therapies for cardiovascular disease. The type I interferons (IFN-alpha/beta) are part of the innate immune response to CMV infections. Previously, we have reported that daily treat...