MAINTENANCE THERAPY WITH RECOMBINANT INTERFERON-ALPHA-2B (ALPHA-IFN) IN PROGNOSTICALLY UNFAVORABLE AGGRESSIVE NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMAS (NHL)

Fifteen patients from a series of 37 consecutive patients with aggress ive NHL who achieved a complete remission (CR) with first line chemoth erapy were defined at high or high-intermediate risk of relapse accord ing to International Prognostic Risk Index and were treated with alpha IFN as maintenance therapy for two years. After a median follow-up of 62 months only 3/15 patients (20%) relapsed and 2/15 (13.3%) died in the alpha IFN treated group, favourably comparing with the expected re lapse and death rate in that setting; on the other hand 40.9% of 'low risk' patients from the same series, who did not receive alpha IFN, ha d relapsed. alpha IFN maintenance therapy appears to result in prolong ed response duration and survival in patients with aggressive and prog nostically unfavourable NHL.