Thirteen‐year, long‐term efficacy of interferon 2α and interleukin 2‐based home therapy in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma

Abstract

BACKGROUND. The goal of the current report was to demonstrate the long-term efficacy of outpatient subcutaneous (sc) interferon ␣ (IFN-␣) and sc interleukin 2 (IL-2)-based combination regimens in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. METHODS. In three consecutive clinical trials, 443 patients received combined sc IFN-␣ and sc IL-2 (n ϭ 97 patients); combined sc IFN-␣, sc IL-2, and intravenous (iv) 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) (n ϭ 260 patients); or combined sc IFN-␣, sc IL-2, and iv 5-FU with oral 13cis-retinoic acid (n ϭ 86 patients). RESULTS. The median overall survival was 21ϩ months. The 2-year, 5-year, and 13-year survival rates were calculated at 45.26%, 15.96%, and 8.96%, respectively. The median time to disease progression was 6 months. The 2-year, 5-year, and 13-year progression free survival rates were 17.84%, 9.54%, and 9.20%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS. The current data suggest that combined outpatient sc IFN-␣ and sc IL-2, according to the Atzpodien regimen, achieves long-term survival benefits in a subset of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, both with and without 13-cis-retinoic acid and/or 5-fluorouracil. Cancer 2002;95:1045-50.

Generation of RAGE‐1 and MAGE‐9 peptide‐specific cytotoxic T‐Lymphocyte lines for transfer in patients with renal cell carcinoma

“…[4][5][6] However, RCCs are supposed to be immunogenic; [7][8][9][10][11] hence, immunotherapeutic strategies are dominant. [12][13][14][15] Application of IL-2, [16][17][18][19][20] IFN-a [21][22][23][24] or the combination of IL-2 plus IFN-a [25][26][27][28] also together with fluorouracil and vinblastine 29 have been reported to significantly improve the 3-year survival rate. Besides application of chemokines, application of antibodies, particularly anti-G250, 30 which is expressed by >95% of RCCs, 31 should be mentioned.…”

Adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy augments cure and long-term cancer control in men with poor prognosis, nonmetastatic prostate cancer

“…4 For certain stages of some cancers including genitourinary cancers, cure is becoming a reality. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Although general opinion is that patients with poor-prognosis nonmetastatic prostate cancer cannot be cured, results from recent studies have prompted re-evaluation of this belief. The aim of this review is to examine the concept of cure in genitourinary cancers and focus on the role of adjuvant hormonal therapy in prostate cancer, with reference to re-examining the historical treatment paradigm, which considers androgen deprivation a palliative option.…”

Two randomised phase II trials of subcutaneous interleukin-2 and histamine dihydrochloride in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma

“…The results remain poor because mRCC is highly refractory to therapy, including radiation, hormones and chemotherapy (Motzer and Russo, 2000). However, immunological manipulation using interleukin-2 (IL-2) mediate durable tumour regression in 5 -10% of patients lasting 5 and 10 years, and this subgroup of patients are probably cured (Bordin et al, 2000;Fisher et al, 2000;Negrier et al, 2000;Atzpodien et al, 2002). Despite this important improvement, the vast majority of patients will die of their disease and therefore novel treatment strategies or identification of new agents with better antitumour activity remain a high priority.…”