A trial looking at interferon treatment for melanoma skin cancer

Cancer type:

Melanoma

Skin cancer

Status:

Results

Phase:

Pilot

This trial compared interferon for one month with interferon for one year as treatment for melanoma.

Doctors sometimes treat melanoma with interferon (also called Roferon or Intron A). Interferon helps to delay or stop melanoma coming back after surgery.

Some people have interferon 5 days a week for 4 weeks, and then 3 times a week for about another 48 weeks. So they have treatment for a year altogether.

Doctors thought that interferon might work just as well if people had only the first 4 weeks of treatment and not the extra 48 weeks. But they weren’t sure. Interferon can have serious side effects, so it is important that people don’t have it if they don’t need it.

In this trial the researchers compared 4 weeks of treatment to treatment for a year. The aim of the trial was to see which was better. They looked at how well the treatment worked and what the side effects were.

This was a pilot study. If the results were promising, the researchers would go on to do a larger phase 3 trial.

Summary of results

The researchers found that having interferon for 4 weeks was no better than having it for a year to treat melanoma.

This was a pilot study. It was a randomised study. The people taking part were put into treatment groups by a computer. Neither they nor their doctor decided which group they were in.

Of the 194 people this study recruited

96 had interferon for 4 weeks only
98 had interferon for 1 year

A year after treatment, the researchers found that more people who had treatment for a year were still alive than those who had 4 weeks treatment. They said this couldn’t have happened by chance (it was statistically significant Open a glossary item ).

The researchers looked at the number of people whose melanoma hadn’t come back 2 years after their treatment with interferon finished. It was

50 out of every 100 people (50%) for those who had 4 weeks of interferon
54 out of every 100 people (54%) for those who had interferon for a year

The researchers said that this could have happened by chance when they considered the following factors

The size of each person’s melanoma and how far it had spread (the stage )
How many lymph nodes were affected
How deep the melanoma had grown into the skin

Of the 21 people who didn’t complete their 4 weeks of interferon

13 stopped due to side effects
3 because their melanoma continued to grow
5 decided to stop treatment

Of the 69 people who didn’t complete their year of interferon

25 stopped due to side effects
12 because their melanoma continued to grow
19 decided to stop treatment
2 unfortunately died
11 gave other reasons

The most common side effects in both groups were

A drop in blood cells causing an increased risk of infection
Feeling or being sick
Changes to how the liver worked
Flu like symptoms
Tiredness

The study team concluded that having interferon for a month was no better than having it for a year after surgery and that there was no reason to do a phase 3 trial.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed Open a glossary item ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.