Phase III trial of recombinant interferon gamma in complete responders with small-cell lung cancer.

Abstract

Time to progression and survival were inferior in patients treated with rIFN-gamma compared with randomized control subjects, although this difference was not statistically significant. These data indicate that rIFN-gamma treatment is not associated with a 33% improvement in survival (P = .04). Because of the high rate of relapse, SCLC patients in CR are an ideal group in which to evaluate novel and minimally toxic agents.

Dual Faces of IFNγ in Cancer Progression: A Role of PD-L1 Induction in the Determination of Pro- and Antitumor Immunity

“…Furthermore, a phase III trial of IFNg plus carboplatin/paclitaxel versus carboplatin/paclitaxel alone for treating advanced ovarian carcinomas was stopped early due to the significantly shorter overall survival (OS) time of the patients receiving IFNg (22). Similarly, the time to progression and survival were inferior (although nonsignificantly) in patients treated with IFNg compared with the outcomes of randomized control subjects in a trial including patients with small cell lung cancer with complete response following chemotherapy (23). These results indicate that the effects of IFNg on tumor suppression are inconsistent and that IFNg can even be detrimental depending upon the type of tumor and treatment protocol.…”

Pulmonary perspective: immunology in diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer

“…Although these mediators have proved to be effective in some malignancies, their activity in NSCLC seems to be rather marginal [135][136][137][138]. In SCLC, a recently published phase III study did not confirm the positive role of IFN-α and IFN-γ as maintenance therapy in complete responder patients [139,140]. However, complete tumour responses were observed after intrapleural injection of IFN-γ in stage I and II mesothelioma patients [141].…”

L523S, an RNA-binding protein as a potential therapeutic target for lung cancer

“…Immunotherapy of lung cancer has been actively pursued in recent years (Bunn, 1999). However, randomised trials using nonspecific immune stimulants such as interferon have failed to show significant effects on lung cancer survival (Jett et al, 1994;van Zandwijk et al, 1997). Most pioneering studies of targeted cancer vaccine therapy have focused on melanoma, which is the most immunogenic solid tumour and has abundantly expressed melanoma-specific gene products.…”