What cancers can interferon treat?
Approximately 180 clinical trials utilize interferon in cancer today. Interferon alpha is the predominant interferon in cancer today. Interferon has been approved for the treatment of advanced malignant melanoma. At high doses, it was found in clinical trials to increase the survival of patients with this cancer. Additionally, interferon is the major therapy for Kaposi sarcoma, a cancer of the skin that occurs in patients with AIDS. Interferon was an early treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia, but now Gleevec has been found to be effective in that disease, so interferon has been used less often. Another cancer in which it was quite effective is called hairy cell leukemia, which is a rare type of leukemia with cells that look like they have a hairy surface. How is interferon effective in treating cancers? In cancer, interferon works in quite a different way than it does in viruses. And there are numerous pathways that interferon activates to help treat cancers. Interferon has an a
