AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, August 2, 2004
Staff Medical Writers

According to recent research from the United States, "Studies establishing that intermittent subcutaneous interleukin-2 (IL-2) therapy can lead to substantial CD4 cell increases in many HIV-infected patients have generally been of limited duration."

"We studied 77 patients participating in active longitudinal studies of subcutaneous IL-2 therapy at our center in order to determine the long-term feasibility of this approach.

"Following initial induction," C.E. Farel and coworkers wrote, "patients in each trial were eligible to receive intermittent 5-day cycles of subcutaneous IL-2 treatment at individualized doses and frequencies capable of maintaining CD4 counts at postinduction levels."

"The mean duration of study participation to date is 5.9 years (range, 1.0-9.3 years). Mean baseline CD4 cell count and CD4 percent values of 0.521x10⁹/L (521 cells/mcl) and 27% have risen to 1.005x10⁹/L (1005 cells/mcl) and 38%, respectively, at 90 months.

"The mean number of subcutaneous IL-2 cycles required to achieve and maintain these increases was 10 cycles (range, 3-29 cycles)," continued investigators, "and the current mean interval of cycling required to maintain these elevations is 39 months (median, 35 months; range, 2-91 months)."

Farel concluded, "Subcutaneous IL-2 therapy is capable of maintaining CD4 cell increases for an extended period using a remarkably low frequency of intermittent cycling. These observations may contribute to patients' acceptance of subcutaneous IL-2 as a favorable long-term treatment strategy."

Farel and colleagues published their study in Blood (Induction and maintenance therapy with intermittent interleukin-2 in HIV-1 infection. Blood. 2004 May 1;103(9):3282-6.

For additional information, contact R.T. Davey, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institutes of Health, Building 10 Room 11C-103, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA.

Publisher contact information for the journal Blood is: American Society of Hematology, 1900 M St. NW, Ste. 200, Washington, DC 20036 USA.

The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of AIDS/HIV, Immunology and Pharmaceutical and Drug Development.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

Reference

Farel CE, Chaitt DG, Hahn BK, et al., "Induction and maintenance therapy with intermittent interleukin-2 in HIV-1 infection", Blood. 2004 May 1;103(9):3282-6.

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