Intralesional interferon-alpha and zidovudine in epidemic Kaposi's sarcoma.

BACKGROUND

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is the most common neoplasm in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). To date, no therapy has proved to be consistently effective.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of intralesional interferon-alpha in patients with epidemic KS who were taking zidovudine.

METHODS

Up to five lesions in each of 14 patients entered into the study were injected with 1 million U of interferon-alpha three times weekly for 6 weeks. Sterile water was used as a placebo control. The median zidovudine dose was 500 mg/day. The median CD4 count was 23/microliters.

RESULTS

Of 14 patients evaluated, 13 of 14 (93%) showed a clinical complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) to therapy. Of 54 lesions injected, 41 (76%) showed a CR and 5 (9%) showed a PR, which resulted in an overall response rate of 85%.

CONCLUSION

Intralesional interferon-alpha produced a high response rate in injected lesions of KS, but it failed to demonstrate superior efficacy over the placebo.