INTERFERON IN CHRONIC MYELOID-LEUKEMIA - A WORKSHOP REPORT

The therapeutic efficacy of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) in the treatm ent of chronic myeloid leukemia is currently being tested in a number of institutional, interinstitutional, and international trials. There. is no doubt that responses are achieved in many patients, and in a sm all subset complete eradication of clonogenic cells may be possible. H owever, it has not yet been shown that overall survival of patients tr eated with IFN-alpha is better than that of those treated with convent ional cytoreductive drugs. There are still controversial opinions on p roblems such as dosages and duration of treatment, combination with cy tostatic agents, definition of responses, and relevance of cytogenic a nd molecular data. An international workshop discussed the data on int erferon therapy and attempted to define the role of interferon today i n the management of chronic myeloid leukemia.