Low frequency of neutralizing antibodies against natural interferon-beta during adjuvant therapy for Japanese patients with melanoma

The incidence of therapy-induced neutralizing inferferon-beta (IFN-B) antib odies was investigated in 41 Japanese patients with melanoma treated with a combination of chemotherapy and subcutaneous injections of natural IFN-P. Only one patient (2.4%) developed anti-IFN-beta antibodies. This finding di ffers from those of previous studies with Caucasian patients in which subcu taneous injections of natural IFN-B resulted in a high incidence of anti-IF N-beta antibodies. This difference may be related to ethnic group of patien ts, treatment schedule, pharmacological preparation of IFN-P and/or technic al assay system used in each study. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.