It is a particularly effective therapy for metastatic breast cancer in the postmenopausal woman. For details of endocrine therapy, see Table 144-2. They are synthesized by cells of the immune system when invaded by viruses as a physiologic protective response. In pharmacologic amounts, they have palliative efficacy in some cancers. Interferons have demonstrated activity in selected cancers.
Survival is somewhat prolonged in patients with melanoma and renal cell cancer.
Cosmetic palliation occurs in Kaposi's sarcoma. Significant toxicities of interferon include fatigue, nausea, leukopenia, chills and fever, and myalgias. Interleukins, primarily the lymphokine interleukin-2 produced by activated T cells, have been used with modest palliative effect in renal cell cancer. All rights reserved.