NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jun 24 - Despite certain earlier reports, in melanoma patients being treated with adjuvant interferon, the appearance of autoimmune antibodies does not predict an improved outcome, European researchers report in the June 16th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Dutch investigator Dr. Alexander M. M. Eggermont of Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam and colleagues came to this conclusion after studying data from 2 trials in which such patients were randomized to adjuvant interferon-alpha2b treatment or observation.
The researchers used a number of assumptions and variables to interpret the results, and it initially appeared that in both trials, use of the adjuvant prompted a significant increase in the time until relapse.
However, correction of this model -- which had treated the appearance of autoantibodies as a time-independent variable -- to allow for guarantee-time bias, led to a weaker association which was no longer statistically significant.
The results, the researchers observe, "do not suggest that the presence or appearance of autoantibodies is a strong prognostic factor in melanoma patients."
Based on the results, "unfortunately we still do not have a clinical tool to identify patients that might benefit from adjuvant interferon therapy after surgery for thick primary tumors or lymph node metastases," Dr. Eggermont told Reuters Health.
"To identify such factors remains a very high priority in rationalizing and justifying the proposal of adjuvant therapy in melanoma patients with such high risks for relapse," he said.
J Natl Cancer Inst 2009;101:869-877.
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