Treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia with Interferon alpha (Roferon): Results of the Israeli Study Group on CML

Thirty patients with chronic myeloid leukemia from 11 Israeli medical centers entered this study. Their ages ranged from 16–65 (median 41) and time from diagnosis to treatment was 1–16 months (median 4 months). After cytoreductive therapy with hydroxyurea (22 patients) or busulphan (8 patients), patients received 9 million units/day of recombinant interferon alpha-2α (Roferon A) subcutaneously. Side effects included arthralgia or low back pain in 7 patients, thrombocytopenia in 9, weight loss in four, neurologic disturbances in 4 and leukopenia in 3 cases. Seventeen patients achieved complete hematologic remission (CHR) and 6 partial hematologic remission (PHR). Six patients achieved major cytogenetic response, 4 of them lost all Ph1 chromosome positive cells and 4 had minimal cytogenetic response. Frequency of relapse was high: 8 patients with CHR and 6 with PHR relapsed, but patients with major cytogenetic response did not relapse. Patients who had received prior therapy with busulphan had a higher remi...