[Combination therapy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), cisplatin (CDDP) and interferon alpha-2B (IFN alpha-2B) for advanced...

Eleven patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma received combination therapy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), Cisplatin (CDDP) and Interferon alpha-2b (IFN alpha-2b). For 5 days, 500 mg of 5-FU was administered by continuous intravenous infusion daily; 20 mg/m2 CDDP was injected intravenously daily for 5 days, and 3 or 6 million units of IFN alpha-2b was administered intramuscularly twice a week for 3 weeks. This treatment cycle was repeated every 3 weeks. One of 11 patients achieved a partial response, and the response rate was 9%. High grade toxicities (WHO grade 3 or 4), nausea and vomiting (27%), leukocytopenia (9%), anemia (9%) and thrombocytopenia (18%) were seen. One of the reasons that this regimen dose not appear to be effective may be the low total dose of 5-FU for renal cell carcinoma.