Palmieri G, Morabito A, Lauria R, Montesarchio V, Matano E, Memoli B, Libetta C, Rea A, Merola C, Correale P
Cattedra di Oncologia Medica, II Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università Federico II, Naples, Italy.
Eur J Cancer. 1993;29A(8):1119-22. doi: 10.1016/s0959-8049(05)80300-4.
Recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) can produce impairment of renal function with hypotension, fluid retention, elevated blood urea nitrogen, oliguria and low fractional sodium excretion; these side-effects are a common cause of reduction or interruption of rIL-2 infusion. The aim of this study was to investigate the control and treatment of renal toxicity induced by rIL-2 therapy. Here we show that dopamine, at a low dose of 2 micrograms/kg/min, completely prevented renal toxicity induced by rIL-2. While continuing rIL-2 therapy, 24-h continuous infusion of low-dose dopamine produced a rapid normalisation of urine output and a significant decrease in serum creatinine levels and body weight (P < 0.01), with an early and complete recovery of the rIL-2--impaired renal function: mean recovery time of renal function in patients treated with dopamine was significantly lower (P < 0.05) than in nontreated patients (4.8 days vs. 10 days, respectively).
