[Interferon alpha 2C in the treatment of 2 patients with AIDS-associated Kaposi sarcoma].

Two patients with AIDS and histologically confirmed Kaposi's sarcoma were treated with 3 X 10(6) U/m2 interferon alpha 2C (rIFN alpha 2C) subcutaneously three times a week. In both cases remissions (7 weeks and more than 9 months) of the tumour lesions were achieved and in one case pretherapeutic moderate thrombocytopenia improved. The positive serum antibody titres to HTLV III-virus showed no conversion. Except for fever (below 39 degrees C) during the first two weeks of IFN treatment in both patients, therapy-requiring hypotonia, mild depression, leucopenia (WHO grade 1) and thrombocytopenia (WHO grade 2) in one patient, no side effects were observed. All the above-mentioned features were reversible after termination of treatment. Further studies to optimize the dosage of rIFN alpha 2C and its time schedule in the treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma in patients with AIDS are recommended.