Role of recombinant interferon alfa-2a maintenance in patients with limited-stage small-cell lung cancer responding to concurrent chemoradiation: a Southwest Oncology Group study.

Abstract

rIFN alpha-2a in the dose and schedule used in this study failed to prolong response duration or survival in patients with limited-stage SCLC who had previously responded to an induction chemoradiotherapy program. Failure may have been partly related to poor tolerance and inability to complete therapy.

Maintenance or consolidation therapy in small-cell lung cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…A total of 21 studies met the inclusion criteria: 11 RCTs concerning maintenance chemotherapy [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] (Table 1); 4 RCTs with maintenance interferon-alpha [37][38][39][40] and 2 with interferongamma [41,42] (Table 2); 4 employing maintenance therapy with other biological agents [43][44][45][46] (Table 3). Fig.…”

Interferon-alpha improves docetaxel antitumoral and antimetastatic efficiency in Lewis lung carcinoma bearing mice

“…Our findings are consistent and justify the trial of this association in patients suffering from lung carcinoma. Several trials have shown that given alone, interferon-alpha may improve the long-term survival of small cell lung cancer patients for whom other prognostic factors are favorable (Kelly et al, 1995;Mattson et al, 1992Mattson et al, , 1997). In addition, recent studies showed that IFN-α improves cytotoxic efficiency of imatinib-a P-gp substrate-and overcomes drug resistance in patients suffering from imatinib-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia (Nicolini et al, 2011).…”

Targeted therapy for small cell lung cancer

“…Interferons affect the endothelial cells by blocking production of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Patients who had achieved a response to chemotherapy were randomized to either interferon maintenance or placebo in different randomized trials [44][45][46][47] and in each of those trials, administration of interferon was associated with considerable toxicity, although two studies showed a trend towards improved survival with interferon treatment [44,47]. Current trials are investigating the role of interferon either as a vaccine or in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy in SCLC.…”