[Efficacy of interferon-beta and interleukin-2 as cytokines for malignant brain tumor treatment]

The role of Interferon-beta (IFN-beta) as maintenance therapy for malignant gliomas and medulloblastomas was described. The low dose but continuous long-term administration of IFN-beta as a maintenance treatment for malignant gliomas after the induction therapy with surgery and chemoradiotherapy demonstrated the complete remission of the tumor in six cases of malignant gliomas. Such method of IFN-beta administration did not induce any serious side effects and might be useful for treatment of malignant gliomas. In addition, recent advance of adoptive immunotherapy using lymphokine activated killer cells (LAK) was briefly reviewed.