Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0085593 (chills)
 4,268 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Nine patients with onco-hematological malignancies with a poor prognosis due to high risk of relapse received immunotherapy with interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon (IFN(alpha 2b)) s.c. as maintenance therapy after receiving autologous bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (ABMT/PBSCT). All the patients were considered at very high risk of relapse. We attempted to assess the efficiency, toxicity and clinical effects of these cytokines in these patients. Five patients were treated with high-dose of IL-2 and the other four patients with escalating doses every month. Side-effects in the first group of patients consisted of fever, chills, weakness, nausea, anorexia, loss of weight and local dermatitis in the injection site. Toxicity on the WHO scale was grade II in three patients and grade IV in the other two patients. In the second group of patients, the same clinical signs of toxicity appeared, but these were grade I on the WHO scale in all patients. None of the patients had infections or died in relation to administration of IL-2. Four patients died of relapse or progression of their hematological malignancies. The other five patients are alive, one in chronic phase of CML and the other four patients are in complete remission of their malignancies.
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PMID:Treatment with interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon (IFN(alpha 2b)) after autologous bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplantation in onco-hematological malignancies with a high risk of relapse. 1019 3

The present work focuses on the therapeutic efficacy and the toxicity of alpha interferon in patients younger than age 18 years. 5 patients younger than 18 years were treated and followed up between 1990 and 1999 at the department of haematology (Aziza Othmana Hospital) Hydroxyurea was given as initial treatment to all patients. After a median period of 8 months, these patients received alpha interferon (5 millions units/m2 once). Six months after the beginning of the alpha interferon a complete hematologic response was obtained in all patients. The median overall survival was of 66 months: 3 patients are still alive (2 patients in an advanced stage and one patient in chronic phase) and 2 patients died after transformation. The most common reported side effects of alpha interferon were asthenia, weight loss, fever, myalgia, chills and headaches--these toxic manifestations were mild and were noticed in all our patients. Myelosuppression was noted in two patients. Interferon is well tolerated in patients younger than age years 18 old, with CML. It may offer an alternative to bone marrow transplantation in children in the chronic phase of CML without histocompatible donor. The role of new agents such as STI 571 needs to be evaluated as well.
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PMID:[Alpha interferon in children with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid-leukaemia]. 1604 5