Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
INTERFERON USE DURING OTHER VIRUS INFECTIONS
The Interferon System. A Current Review to 1987. Baron S et al, eds. The University of Texas Medical Branch Series in Biomedical Science, Austin, TX, University of Texas Press, p. 447-52, 1987.. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE ICDB/89650513 Cesario T; Yousefi S; Carandang G; Tilles J; Dept. of Medicine, Univ. of California Irvine Medical Center, 101; City Drive South, Orange, CA 92668
Abstract:
As clinical applications of human interferon (HuIFN) in treatment of respiratory viruses, herpesviruses, and hepatitis viruses are reviewed in other sections of the book, the present chapter covers therapeutic trials in which the HuIFN was used in a variety of other diseases, either known or presumed to be caused by viruses. For congenital rubella, administration of IFN at a dose of 3 million units daily was associated with improvement in skin lesions and disappearance of viremia, but persistence of viruria. For Marburg virus infection, a patient (pt) treated with IFN showed cessation of viremia and recovery from the infection, but the role of the IFN in the apparent effect was unsure. None of five rabies pts treated with human leukocyte IFN, at doses of 1-20 million units/day im and 0.5-5 million units/day intrathecally, survived their disease; and the virus was detected at death in all pts, indicating no beneficial effect. In none of three reports on intrathecal and systemic administration of IFN to subacute sclerosing panencephalitis pts could significant benefits be observed. Apparent success in treating juvenile laryngeal papillomatosis using 3 million units of IFN 3x weekly in one study, 2 million units/m2 daily in a second study, and combined IFN-alpha and laser surgery in a third was unproved because of lack of controls. Some success appeared to have been obtained in several studies in which condylomata acuminata was treated with IFN, using im injections or direct injection of the lesions. Use of human fibroblast-derived IFN-beta administered in droplet form 6-8 times a day to pts with adenovirus epidemic keratoconjunctivitis appeared to shorten the length of the disease, provide relief for the pt, and diminish the incidence of complications, relative to a control group. Because of reported deficiencies in the abilities of AIDS pts to generate IFN, because of the viral etiology of AIDS and the antiproliferative potential of IFN, a number of investigators used IFN (a variety of preparations) for treating AIDS pts who had Kaposi's sarcoma. These studies are described, and it is concluded from the results that a limited number of such pts will respond to IFN therapy. However, complete responses (disappearance of the tumor) could be expected in less than a quarter of the pts, even in the most optimistic of the studies. (25 Refs)
Keywords: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/THERAPY Adenovirus Infections, Human/THERAPY Animal Human Interferons/*THERAPEUTIC USE Keratitis, Dendritic/THERAPY Marburg Virus Disease/THERAPY Papillomavirus Rabies/THERAPY Rubella Syndrome, Congenital/THERAPY Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis/THERAPY Tumor Virus Infections/THERAPY Virus Diseases/*THERAPY MONOGRAPH REVIEW REVIEW, TUTORIAL
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
