TY - JOUR
T1 - Treatment of neurotoxic side effects of interferon-α with naltrexone
AU - Valentine, Alan D.
AU - Meyers, Christina A.
AU - Taipaz, Moshe
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1995
Y1 - 1995
N2 - Interferon-a (IFN-α has potential dose-limiting neurotoxic side effects when used in cancer therapy. The nature of this neurotoxicity is speculative, and there is no definitive treatment. Because animal studies suggest that IFN-α acts at opioid receptor sites, we gave naltrexone, a long-acting opioid antagonist, to 9 patients who had hematological malignancies and who suffered from IFN-α side effects. Seven of these patients experienced complete or moderate relief of side effects. Five of the patients tested before and during naltrexone treatment showed improvement of cognitive functioning. Two patients could not tolerate naltrexone side effects. This study suggests an intervention against IFN-α side effects and provides support for the role of opioid receptor interaction in IFN-α neurotoxicity.
AB - Interferon-a (IFN-α has potential dose-limiting neurotoxic side effects when used in cancer therapy. The nature of this neurotoxicity is speculative, and there is no definitive treatment. Because animal studies suggest that IFN-α acts at opioid receptor sites, we gave naltrexone, a long-acting opioid antagonist, to 9 patients who had hematological malignancies and who suffered from IFN-α side effects. Seven of these patients experienced complete or moderate relief of side effects. Five of the patients tested before and during naltrexone treatment showed improvement of cognitive functioning. Two patients could not tolerate naltrexone side effects. This study suggests an intervention against IFN-α side effects and provides support for the role of opioid receptor interaction in IFN-α neurotoxicity.
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U2 - 10.3109/07357909509024923
DO - 10.3109/07357909509024923
M3 - Article
C2 - 7583704
AN - SCOPUS:0028895234
SN - 0735-7907
VL - 13
SP - 561
EP - 566
JO - Cancer Investigation
JF - Cancer Investigation
IS - 6
ER -