Brain metastases of metastatic malignant melanoma: response to DTIC and interferon-gamma.

The prognosis of patients with malignant melanoma and brain metastases is poor. Therapy of brain metastases is difficult and mostly unsuccessful, with brain metastases being the predominant factor which determines overall survival. We report here on a patient whose brain metastases responded to DTIC + INF-gamma. We present a short summary on the different effects on INF-alpha and INF-gamma and reach the conclusion that clinical trials which combine DTIC and INF-gamma should be performed. Based on this observation, combinations including INF-alpha are not necessarily comparable to modalities which include INF-gamma.