[Treatment of hairy-cell leukemia using interferon alfa]

The paper gives a brief account of alpha interferon (IFN) production employed for clinical use in oncology. In onco-haematology, in particular, the alpha IFN effect in hairy-cell leukaemia and chronic myeloid leukaemia is surprisingly favorable. This study analyzes the IFN therapeutical results in 11 patients with hairy-cell leukaemia during the first six months of treatment. For various reasons, four patients were not treated with IFN long enough to attain a therapeutic effect. One female patient with splenomegaly failed to respond to the treatment. In six patients the treatment was successful. Satisfactory partial remission was induced in five of these patients, in one--a complete remission. The paper briefly discusses the present knowledge of how IFN works. The effect is three-fold: anti-viral, immunomodulatory, and anti-proliferative. In hairy-cell leukaemia, the IFN anti-proliferative effect on the leukaemic cell population was observed in most cases. In conclusion, the authors, drawing on their own experience and literary data, propose indications, dosage, length of IFN therapy and describe side-effects in hairy-cell leukaemia, treated with alpha IFN. In natural and recombination forms, the alpha IFN can be considered important addition to the limited therapeutical options of hairy-cell leukaemia treatment.