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Chronic myelogenous leukaemia: haematological remissions with alpha interferon
Author(s) -
Talpaz Moshe,
McCredie Kenneth,
Jian Hagop Kantab,
Trujillo Jose,
Keating Michael,
Gutterman Jordan
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1986.tb07576.x
Subject(s) - medicine , alpha interferon , alpha (finance) , chronic myelogenous leukemia , immunology , interferon , leukemia , surgery , construct validity , patient satisfaction
S ummary . Twenty‐seven consecutive patients with previously untreated, or minimally treated benign phase Philadelphia‐chromosome‐positive, chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) were treated with partially purified human leucocyte (alpha) interferon; 24 of the 27 patients responded to therapy achieving either haematological remission (20 patients) or partial haematological remission (four patients). In the responding patients the peripheral white blood cells declined from a median of 89.6 × 10 × 10 9 /1 to 4.5 × 10 × 10 9 /1. The serum lactate dehydrogenase declined from a mean of 8.36 Katal/1 (492 mu/ ml) to 2.8 Katal/1 (165 mu/ml), and the vitamin B 12 levels declined from 1492 pg/ml to 838 pg/ml. Fifteen patients had splenomegaly. The spleen size normalized in four and decreased by a median of 30% in 10 additional patients. The bone marrow cellularity fell from a median of 100% to a median of 62%. In seven of the 24 responding patients, followed for ≤ 6 months, the percentage of Ph 1 ‐positive cells in the bone marrow declined to a median of 70% (range 5–75%). Alpha interferon was found to be an effective therapeutic agent for controlling the myeloid proliferation in CML, and in partially restoring the nonclonal haematopoietic cells in some of the patients.