Phase II study of alpha-interferon and 13-cis-retinoic acid in metastatic melanoma

The combination of alpha-interferon and 13-cis-retinoic acid has shown significant activity against a number of human tumors. We conducted a phase II trial to test whether the combination would have a major response rate of 30% or more in patients with refractory, metastatic melanoma. Eleven patients were treated on the study. Alpha-interferon was administered subcutaneously three times a week at a dose of 10 million U/m2 and 13-cis-retinoic acid was administered orally at a dose of 1 mg/kg/day. No patient achieved a partial or complete remission. The combination of alpha-interferon and 13-cis-retinoic acid is unlikely to have significantly higher therapeutic activity than alpha-interferon alone.