The role of interferon as maintenance therapy in malignant lymphoma.

Interferon (IFN) is a biologic response modifier that has been employed in the treatment of malignant lymphomas with various degrees of success. In patients with low-grade lymphomas, IFN alone induced complete remissions in 17-62% of the patients. When used in combination with chemotherapy, prolongation of remission duration and survival has been reported. The best results have been reported when IFN was used as maintenance therapy in patients with minimal residual disease or complete remission. When used as maintenance treatment toxicity was mild with less than 5% of the patients discontinuing IFN treatment, and late side-effects have not been reported. The results obtained with IFN in patients with intermediate and high-grade lymphomas are disappointing. Complete remissions were observed in less than 10% of the patients and duration of remission and survival did not exceed 12 months. In contrast, promising results have been reported when IFN was used as maintenance treatment following bone marrow transplantation. In conclusion, IFN should be considered as part of the therapeutic process in patients with low-grade lymphomas, and in particular as a maintenance treatment following induction chemotherapy.