Long-term follow-up in 51 patients with mycosis fungoides and Sezary syndrome treated by interferon-alfa

Although interferon-alfa (IFN-alpha) has proved effective in treating epide rmotropic cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (ECTL), few studies have considered the follow-up of treated patients and whether complete remission was maintaine d. We studied 51 patients tone stage Ia, seven stage Ib, one stage IIa, 30 stage IIb, 11 stage III (Sezary syndrome) and one stage IV) who received lo w-dose IFN-alpha as monotherapy for ECTL (mean daily dose of IFN-alpha 2.7 x 10(6) units for 14.9 months), giving special consideration to the signifi cance of My7 (CD13) antigen expression by epidermal basal cells in predicti ng the maintenance of complete remission. For a mean follow-up period of 43 .4 months, the results showed 21 complete remissions, 13 partial remissions and 17 patients with stable or progressive disease, Twelve patients died d uring the follow-up (3-52 months). IFN-alpha led to an improved response in the early stages, with a greater number of complete remissions (P = 0.03) and partial remissions (P = 0.01). The mean time to complete remission was 4 months, regardless of clinical stage (P = 0.1). Of 21 patients in complet e remission, 57% had a relapse within a mean period of 7.5 months. For pati ents maintained in complete remission, the mean period of response was 31 m onths. The length of complete remission was independent of clinical stage, and My7 antigen expression was not predictive of complete remission.