Treatment of early stage-B chronic lymphocytic leukemia with alpha-2b interferon after chlorambucil reduction of the tumoral mass.

Eleven patients with early CLL (two in Rai's stage 0, seven in stage I, and two in stage II) received aIFN (3 MU subcutaneously three times a week for a median of 8 months; range, 4-12) after their tumor mass had been reduced with intermittent chlorambucil. Following chlorambucil/aIFN administration, a significant reduction in blood lymphocyte counts (from 25.1 +/- 12.0 x 10(9)/l to 6.3 +/- 5.32 x 10(9)/l; p less than 0.001) and in CD 19-positive cells (from 21.0 +/- 12.0 x 10(9)/l to 3.8 +/- 2.3 x 10(9)/l; p less than 0.001) was observed. Three of seven patients with stage-I and one of two with stage-II disease moved to stage 0, and a complete response (CR) was observed in two patients with stage-I at diagnosis. Overall, there were eight patients who, after treatment, had either a CR (2 cases) or stage-0 disease (6 cases), which compares favorably with two patients with stage-0 disease before entering the study (p = 0.015). In five patients (including the two who achieved a CR) aIFN further improved the disease status achieved with chlorambucil.