Long-lasting complete remission of pulmonary metastases consequent to renal cell carcinoma obtained with interferon-beta therapy: review of the literature and a case report.

This case report describes a complete remission of pulmonary metastases, consequent to renal cancer, achieved with interferon-beta therapy. After nephrectomy (July 1990), this female patient was proposed for therapeutic assessment: vinblastine chemotherapy was carried out for 10 cycles, whereas concomitant immunotherapy of interferon-alpha was discontinued after 30 days owing to lack of tolerability. In replacement, interferon-beta administration from the 5th cycle of chemotherapy at the dose of 3 MIU 3 times a week was well tolerated.

Combination of beta-interferon and tamoxifen as a new way to overcome clinical resistance to tamoxifen in advanced breast cancer.

This paper shows that the response to tamoxifen (T) can be improved and the resistance to the antiestrogen can be overcome, in advanced breast cancer, by a pretreatment with natural beta-interferon (nIFN-beta) followed by the association of nIFN-beta with T. Forty-three patients with advanced breast cancer, both progressive (group A) and stable or partially responsive (group B) to previous treatment with T received nIFN-beta i.m.