This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Promises, Disappointments, and Tempered Optimism

Libby Edwards, MD

Arch Dermatol. 1987;123(6):743-744.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The interferons are a group of proteins found naturally in the body that serve as biological response modifiers.¹ As such, they do not directly attack the malignant cell or virus. Instead, interferons heighten the host cell response to these conditions through cell surface receptors that precipitate a multitude of events resulting in antiviral, immunomodulatory, and antiproliferative effects. There are three types of interferons recognized at present: interferon alpha (formerly known as leukocyte interferon), interferon beta (also called fibroblast interferon), and interferon gamma (originally named immune interferon). Interferon alpha and beta are most closely related, but all three types have distinct structures and functions.

In this issue, Vonderheid and coworkers clearly demonstrate an antitumor effect of interferon alfa-2b against mycosis fungoides (cutaneous T-cell lymphoma). Twelve intralesional injections of the subtype interferon alfa-2b induced a small but relatively long-lasting zone of clinically disease-free skin within histologically proven . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Section of Dermatology University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson, AZ 85724

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?