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Low‐dose interferon alpha combined with zidovudine in patients with AIDS‐associated Kaposi's sarcoma
Author(s) -
PODZAMCZER D.,
BOLAO F.,
CLOTET B.,
GARCIA P.,
CASANOVA A.,
PAGEROLS X.,
GUDIOL F.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.625
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1365-2796
pISSN - 0954-6820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2796.1993.tb00983.x
Subject(s) - medicine , zidovudine , sarcoma , alpha interferon , kaposi's sarcoma , gastroenterology , chemotherapy , immunopathology , interferon alfa , interferon , sida , combination therapy , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , immunology , viral disease , surgery , pathology , human herpesvirus
. Forty patients with AIDS‐associated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) treated with the combination of interferon alpha‐2b (IFN‐α) 10–20 MU day −1 and zidovudine (ZDV), 500–800 mg day −1 , were evaluated for safety and efficacy. Eighteen patients (45%) had an overall response (CR + PR) at 3 months and a response persisting for a median of 14 (3–27) months. Patients with a CD4 count of less than 300 mm −3 , prior to opportunistic infections or constitutional symptoms, were less likely to respond. However, between 28.5% and 36% of patients with a low CD4 count did respond to combined therapy. This is higher than would be predicted from single agent IFN‐α therapy. Twelve of 28 patients (42.8%) receiving 10 MU day −1 of IFN‐α (low dose) had an overall response. In addition, patients tolerated this dose of IFN‐α better, presenting fewer flu‐like symptoms and displayed a trend toward less anaemia, p24 antigen decreased in six out of nine evaluable cases, four of whom were treated with low‐dose IFN‐α. Low‐dose IFN‐α plus ZDV seems to be a useful and well‐tolerated therapy for KS with antitumoral and antiviral activity. Patients without ‘bad prognostic markers’ are most likely to show improvement.