1. Meta-Analysis to Assess the Efficacy of Interferon-α in Patients With Follicular Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
- Author
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Susan P. Borden, Bruce Kupelnick, Janet E. Connelly, Malysa W. Monroe, Susan D. Ross, Isabel E. Allen, and Howard Ozer
- Subjects
Male ,Oncology ,Cancer Research ,medicine.medical_specialty ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Immunology ,Follicular lymphoma ,Alpha interferon ,Maintenance therapy ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Humans ,Immunology and Allergy ,Lymphoma, Follicular ,Interferon alfa ,Aged ,Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ,Pharmacology ,Clinical Trials as Topic ,Chemotherapy ,business.industry ,Interferon-alpha ,Induction chemotherapy ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Surgery ,Lymphoma ,Clinical trial ,Treatment Outcome ,Female ,business ,medicine.drug - Abstract
The authors wanted to determine whether adding interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) to chemotherapy regimens, in either induction or maintenance settings, provides additional survival benefits in follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). A meta-analysis was performed based on published data from randomized controlled clinical trials involving nine separate study populations. Patients receiving IFN-alpha (in either induction or maintenance therapy) had significantly increased 5-year and progression-free survival rates at 3 and 5 years compared with concurrent controls. The advantages of IFN-alpha therapy were most marked in studies using anthracycline-containing induction chemotherapy; in these studies, patients who received IFN-alpha had approximately 20% increased progression-free survival rates compared with controls and a lesser survival advantage. The available literature did not allow a determination of the relative benefit of IFN-alpha in induction or maintenance treatments for NHL or a determination of the optimum duration of IFN-alpha treatment. Although questions remain about its optimal use. IFN-alpha appears to prolong survival time in patients with follicular NHL.
- Published
- 2001