Intralesional human leukocyte interferon treatment in the non-AIDS related Kaposi's sarcoma.

Twelve patients with classical European Kaposi's sarcoma have been treated by intra- and peritumoral injections of human alpha leukocyte interferon (IFN)--Ginterferon ("V. Babeş Institute", Bucharest). All the patients were HIV negative their tumour appearing at least six months before. In each patient one tumour received 1 ml (50,000 IU) IFN twice a week during 6-7 weeks whereas another nodule considered as control remained uninjected. After treatment biopsies of both the IFN-treated and the untreated nodules were performed in 8 patients and histological examinations were carried out. The clinical follow-up revealed: The skin colour progressively changed from purple red to dark reddish or even brown in all the IFN-treated tumours and only in 3 of the untreated ones (p less than 0.001). The consistency of the nodules decreased in all the treated tumours and only in 2 of the untreated ones (p less than 0.001). The tumour thickness decreased in 9 of the treated tumours and in none of the untreated ones (p less than 0.001). The surface of the lesions decreased in 4 of the treated nodules but not in the untreated ones (p less than 0.05). The IFN-inoculated tumours were gradually cured even in the four cases in which during the treatment some other tumour progressed or even new lesions appeared. The histological examination showed that: all the IFN-treated tumours were either predominantly sarcomatous or predominantly angiomatous. The typical Kaposi aspect disappeared totally in 2 of the cases examined, and in 3 a fibrosclerotic massive change was obvious.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)