We investigated the effect of tamoxifen, 4-OH tamoxifen, toremifene droloxifene, interferon-alpha2a, interferon-alpha2b and interferon-alpha2c, singly and in combination, for their effect on nitric oxide production by MCF-7 and ZR-75-1 human breast cancer cells. Tamoxifen and 4-OH tamoxifen singly had no effect on nitric oxide production by either cell line. However, treatment with droloxifene ...

Cardiac arrhythmias and syncope are rare consequence of therapy with pegylated interferon. We report a 55-year-old Egyptian woman who developed palpitation and syncopal attacks twice within 3 months after starting therapy with pegylated interferon alpha2b and ribavirin for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis C virus-RNA was undetectable after 12 week. The electrocardiogram hol...

Human interferon alpha2b gene was transiently expressed in Nicotiana excelsior plants. Fusion with N. plumbaginifolia calreticulin signal peptide for improved apoplast targeting and carrying out the expression under optimized conditions resulted in maximal interferon activity of 3.2 x 10(3) IU/g fresh weight (FW) with an average of 2.1 +/- 0.8 x 10(3) IU/g FW. It proves that N. excelsior is a s...

OBJECTIVES To report the successful induction of remission with the monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody rituximab in a patient with hepatitis C virus (HCV) associated cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis and a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) resistant to previously advocated conventional treatments. CASE REPORT The patient was a 45 year old woman with HCV associated cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis, with purpura,...

OBJECTIVES The authors compared the efficacies and tolerabilities of pegylated interferon-alpha2a (PEG-IFN-alpha2a) + ribavirin and pegylated interferon-alpha2b (PEG-IFN-alpha2b) + ribavirin for the initial treatment of chronic hepatitis C. METHODS A total of 126 treatment-naive patients (29.4% genotype 1, 70.6% genotype non-1) were treated with PEG-IFN-alpha2a 180 microg/week (group A, n = 7...

BACKGROUND Interferon alpha2 is widely used in hepatitis and high-risk melanoma. Interferon-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension as a side effect is rare. CASE PRESENTATION We describe a melanoma patient who developed severe pulmonary arterial hypertension 30 months after initiation of adjuvant interferon alpha2b therapy. Discontinuation of interferon did not improve pulmonary arterial hyp...

This paper describes the clinical course of a patient with chronic hepatitis C, genotype 2a/2c, previously treated with Interferon alpha2b and subsequently with Lymphoblastoid Interferon without any response, and also without any cutaneous side effects. The patient, a 50 year-old woman, was re-treated with Pegylated alpha2b Interferon plus Ribavirin for 24 weeks, at standard doses; during the t...

BACKGROUND/AIMS This study characterized the safety and pharmacological properties of AVI-005, a novel glycosylated recombinant human interferon-alpha2b produced from the egg whites of chickens transfected with human cDNA. METHODS 18 healthy volunteers received single subcutaneous rising doses (0.5, 1.66 or 5 million international units, MIU) of AVI-005. A randomized parallel comparator group...

The safety and potential efficacy of interferon (IFN)-alpha2b were determined for 15 patients during an outbreak of meningoencephalitis due to St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus. Clinical and laboratory results were compared with those of 17 untreated patients who were admitted to the same hospital during this nonrandomized preliminary trial. Quadriplegia, quadriparesis, or respiratory insuffic...