Synergistic antiproliferative effect of interferon alpha and azidothymidine in chronic myelogenous leukemia

The possible synergistic interaction between azidothymidine (AZT) and interferon alpha (rlFN-α2a) in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) was studied in vitro using marrow or peripheral blood hematopoietic progenitors from 10 patients with CML in the mixed (CFU-GEMM) colony culture assay. Used singly, either agent inhibited erythroid (BFU-E) and granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) CML hematopoietic progenitor proliferation in a dose-dependent fashion, with the inhibitory effect being more pronounced on BFU-E than on CFU-GM colony-forming cells