INTERFERON TREATMENT??

[Charlesd]

Does anyone have any knowledge of the drug INTERFERON being used to fight cancer?? DR in Nashville,tn giving to his patients with various types of cancer. Along with with a combination of other drugs?

[AlanMeyer]

I remember that Interferon was discussed in the 1980's and 90's and was found useful in a few cancers. Here's an abstract from a 1986 article about it:

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J Surg Oncol. 1986 Dec;33(4):231-3.

Interferon-beta treatment of metastatic prostate cancer.

Bulbul MA, Huben RP, Murphy GP.

Abstract

A limited clinical trial of Interferon-beta (Human Fibroblast Interferon) in the treatment of advanced, hormone-refractory prostate cancer was conducted by the National Prostate Cancer Project (NPCP Protocol 2100). Sixteen patients with metastatic prostate cancer who had failed prior hormone therapy were entered into the study. Treatment consisted of 6 X 10(6) units of Interferon-beta intravenously three times per week for 12 weeks. Chills and fever were seen in ten of the 16 patients (62.5%), and mild hematologic toxicity occurred in four patients. No complete or partial responses were observed. Three patients had stable disease by NPCP criteria for a mean duration of 6.3 months. Progression of disease was seen in 13 of the 16 patients, eight of whom progressed during therapy. The results of this study suggest that Interferon-beta has limited efficacy in the treatment of advanced, hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

PMID: 3784558

DOI: 10.1002/jso.2930330405

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/378...

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That wasn't a very optimistic assessment. However, if you search Pubmed (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed) for prostate cancer and interferon, you'll find that there are still some researchers interested in it.

Personally, I wonder if the doctor you mentioned in Nashville is any kind of prostate cancer specialist.

Alan

[Charlesd in reply to AlanMeyer]

He is an oncologist - not prostate specialist.