Interferon-alpha as maintenance therapy in patients with multiple myeloma

Schaar et al. [1Go] investigated the role of interferon-alpha (IFN) as maintenance therapy in patients with multiple myeloma. In the study, 46 out of 128 patients who reached a plateau phase after melphalan/prednisone therapy were enrolled into the IFN maintenanace treatment arm, whereas 44 patients were followed up without a maintenance treatment.

There was no statistically significant difference in overall survival between the two groups. IFN was withdrawn in 37% of patients (n = 17/46) due to toxicity. Compliance to IFN treatment was low, and the population of the trial consisted of relatively older patients (median age was 68 years).

In another meta-analysis, it has been shown that IFN maintenance therapy improved the progression-free survival in patients with multiple myeloma, but with no effect on overall survival. Also, if disease progressed under IFN treatment, subsequent survival was slightly worse in this group of patients. Unfortunately, this meta-analysis did not include toxicity or the assessment of quality of life [2Go]. Therefore, we believe that IFN maintenance therapy can not be recommended in elderly patients with multiple myeloma because of its poor tolerability.

B. Yalcin*, M. Dogan, A. Buyukcelik, H. Doruk, I. Tek and A. Demirkazik

Department of Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine Sihhiye, Ankara 06100, Turkey

* E-mail: bulyalcin{at}yahoo.com

References

1. Schaar CG, Kluin-Nelemans HC, Marvelle C et al. Interferon-alpha as maintenance therapy in patients with multiple myeloma. Ann Oncol 2005; 16: 634–639.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

2. The Myeloma Trialists' Collaborative Group Secretariat based at Imperial Cancer Research Fund/Medical Research Council Clinical Trial Service Unit. Interferon as therapy for multiple myeloma: an individual patient data overview of 24 randomized trials and 4012 patients. Br J Haematol 2001; 113: 1020–1034.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]





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