Short communication Low frequency of neutralizing antibodies against natural interferon-b during adjuvant therapy for Japanese patients with melanoma

The incidence of therapy-induced neutralizing inferferon-b (IFN-b) antibodies was investigated in 41 Japanese patients with melanoma treated with a combination of chemotherapy and subcutaneous injections of natural IFN-b. Only one patient (2.4%) developed anti-IFN-b antibodies. This finding differs from those of previous studies with Caucasian patients in which subcutaneous injections of natural IFN-b resulted in a high incidence of anti-IFN-b antibodies. This difference may be related to ethnic group of patients, treatment schedule, pharmacological preparation of IFN-b and:or technical assay system used in each study. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.