Pharmacokinetics of recombinant interferon-alpha 2 following intralesional administration in malignant glioma patients.

Pharmacokinetics of recombinant interferon-alpha 2 (rIFN-alpha 2) following intralesional administration into patients with malignant gliomas was investigated. A dose of 5 X 10(6) IU of rIFN-alpha 2 was injected locally postoperatively for 2 weeks each day, and the same dose was then given once a week for 10 additional weeks. During the daily and weekly administration, the IFN was consistently present in the fluid of the postsurgical cavity. Not until 5 weeks after the end of the IFN administration was the IFN undetectable. The decay of IFN injected was minimal.