Interferon-alpha therapy in patients with Kaposi's sarcoma and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

High dose IFN-alpha is an effective treatment for a subset of patients with Kaposi's Sarcoma, that is, those who lack systemic symptoms (e.g. fever, weight loss), and co-existing HIV-associated conditions (e.g. opportunistic infections), and whose cell-mediated immunity system is only mildly or moderately impaired. There is little evidence that the addition of chemotherapeutic agents to IFN-alpha improves treatment outcome. Response rates in excess of 40% have been reported with the addition of AZT to IFN-alpha, and may prove active in patients with more severely impaired T-cell immunity. There is evidence that in responding patients, IFN-alpha also suppresses HIV replication, and in vitro studies indicate synergistic suppression of HIV by the IFN-alpha-AZT combination; evidence for in vitro synergy is being sought.