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Long-term pegylated interferon-α and its potential in the treatment of melanoma

Conventional interferons including interferon-α (IFN-α) are cytokines used for years in the treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Their half-life is short. Pegylated forms of IFN-α present an improved pharmacokinetic profile that rendered them the preferred IFNs in hepatitis ther...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dummer, Reinhard, Mangana, Joanna
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove Medical Press 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2726079/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19707406
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author Dummer, Reinhard
Mangana, Joanna
author_facet Dummer, Reinhard
Mangana, Joanna
author_sort Dummer, Reinhard
collection PubMed
description Conventional interferons including interferon-α (IFN-α) are cytokines used for years in the treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Their half-life is short. Pegylated forms of IFN-α present an improved pharmacokinetic profile that rendered them the preferred IFNs in hepatitis therapy. In the last decade, pegylated interferons (PegIFNs) have been investigated in melanoma patients. We review the scientific published literature on biology, pharmacokinetics, side effects and clinical applications of PegIFN-α in the treatment of stage III and IV melanoma. In the adjuvant setting, PegIFNα-2b has significant prolonged distant metastases free survival in patients with microscopic nodal involvement (stage TxN1aM0) and therefore is a promising treatment option in this patient population. In the palliative setting, monotherapy with PegIFNα-2α can induce complete remissions in a minority of stage IV melanoma patients. The combination of monochemotherapy is feasible and may result in lasting complete remissions. Ongoing research must focus on the identification of patients who mostly benefit, so that unnecessary toxicity would be avoided. Combining PegIFNs and chemotherapy or targeted agents deserves further exploration.
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spelling pubmed-27260792009-08-25 Long-term pegylated interferon-α and its potential in the treatment of melanoma Dummer, Reinhard Mangana, Joanna Biologics Review Conventional interferons including interferon-α (IFN-α) are cytokines used for years in the treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Their half-life is short. Pegylated forms of IFN-α present an improved pharmacokinetic profile that rendered them the preferred IFNs in hepatitis therapy. In the last decade, pegylated interferons (PegIFNs) have been investigated in melanoma patients. We review the scientific published literature on biology, pharmacokinetics, side effects and clinical applications of PegIFN-α in the treatment of stage III and IV melanoma. In the adjuvant setting, PegIFNα-2b has significant prolonged distant metastases free survival in patients with microscopic nodal involvement (stage TxN1aM0) and therefore is a promising treatment option in this patient population. In the palliative setting, monotherapy with PegIFNα-2α can induce complete remissions in a minority of stage IV melanoma patients. The combination of monochemotherapy is feasible and may result in lasting complete remissions. Ongoing research must focus on the identification of patients who mostly benefit, so that unnecessary toxicity would be avoided. Combining PegIFNs and chemotherapy or targeted agents deserves further exploration. Dove Medical Press 2009 2009-07-13 /pmc/articles/PMC2726079/ /pubmed/19707406 Text en © 2009 Dummer and Mangana, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review
Dummer, Reinhard
Mangana, Joanna
Long-term pegylated interferon-α and its potential in the treatment of melanoma
title Long-term pegylated interferon-α and its potential in the treatment of melanoma
title_full Long-term pegylated interferon-α and its potential in the treatment of melanoma
title_fullStr Long-term pegylated interferon-α and its potential in the treatment of melanoma
title_full_unstemmed Long-term pegylated interferon-α and its potential in the treatment of melanoma
title_short Long-term pegylated interferon-α and its potential in the treatment of melanoma
title_sort long-term pegylated interferon-α and its potential in the treatment of melanoma
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2726079/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19707406
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