NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Oct 14 - The combination of dacarbazine with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN)-alpha-2a is well tolerated and may prove effective in patients with advanced metastatic melanoma, according to a report in the September 15th issue of Cancer.
Despite advances in the treatment of malignant melanoma, response rates and survival times have changed little in patients with advanced metastatic melanoma, note Dr. Axel Hauschild from University of Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany, and colleagues.
Because dacarbazine and PEG-IFN-alpha-2a have shown some efficacy individually in malignant melanoma, the team investigated the safety and effectiveness of the combination in 28 patients with advanced metastatic melanoma.
After a median duration of treatment of 62 days, two of 25 evaluable patients achieved complete remissions that lasted for >480 days and 637 days, the authors report. Four additional patients had partial remissions lasting up to 384 days, and one patient had stable disease lasting 56 days.
Median progression-free survival was 56 days, the report indicates, and median overall survival was 403 days.
The sole case of grade 4 leukopenia resolved spontaneously after interruption of IFN treatment, and all grade 3 events recovered after dose delays or discontinuation of treatment due to progressive disease.
There were no life-threatening adverse events.
"The combination of dacarbazine with PEG-IFN-alpha-2a appears to enhance the single-agent activity of PEG-IFN-alpha-2a significantly," the authors conclude.
Cancer 2008;113:1404-1411.
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