Dermatomyositis after interferon alpha treatment

An association between auto-immune disorders and interferon (IFN) has been repented. High levels of natural IFN alpha are present in the blood of pati ents with auto-immune disease and correlate with disease activity, In addit ion, IFN alpha treatment of humans has resulted in multiple reports of asso ciated auto-immune phenomena, We describe a patient who underwent resection of regionally metastatic melanoma, was given adjuvant high-dose IFN alpha 2b, and subsequently developed dermatomyositis, To the authors' knowledge t his is the first report of dermatomyositis in association with IFN alpha tr eatment, We review the literature reporting associations between IFN alpha and auto-immune disease and discuss possible mechanisms by which IFN alpha may contribute to the development of auto-immune disease. High dose IFN alp ha 2b is more commonly prescribed since it was approved as an adjuvant trea tment for patients with surgically resected high-risk melanoma, The potenti al for cases of IFN-associated autoimmune disease is therefore a clinical c oncern, Standard side effects of high-dose IFN therapy resemble symptoms of auto-immune diseases, which may make prompt diagnosis difficult. Therefore , it is important that auto-immune diseases such as dermatomyositis are rec ognized as potential side effects of treatment with high-dose IFN alpha.