Subject: Re: Alpha interferon

From: LaVonne Murphy <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 20:45:21 -0800

Bettyest wrote:
> 
> Does anyone uses Inferon "n" (Alpha Interferon) for m.s. can anyone send
> me some information?

Hi Gang

I have seen several posts on Interferon Alpha lately so went on an 
information scavenger hunt.  You may want to print this out and read it 
with your dictionary close by.  That's your part of the information hunt.

There are four types of Interferon Alpha on the market and it is not the 
same drug as Interferon Beta (two forms).  Alpha has been proven 
effective on Hairy Cell Leukemia, AIDS-related Kaposi's Sarcoma (sarcoma 
is another form of cancer), Genital and Anal Warts and Chronic Viral 
Hepatitis.  It is classified as immunomodulator; antieoplastic; 
antiviral; orphan drug.

Actions: "...Has a broad spectrum of antiviral, cytoxic, and 
immuno-modulating activiey (i.e., favorably adjusts immune system to 
better combat foreign invasion of antigens and viruses).  Antiviral 
action: reprograms virus-infected cells to inhibit various stages of 
virus replication.  Antitumor action:...  Immunomodulating action:  
enhances phagocytic activity of macrophages and augments specific 
cytotoxicity of lymphocytes for tartet cells.  IFN is species specific 
but not virus specific; it partially inhibits viral replication and is 
immediately produced at site of viral entry by any cell; thus, the immune 
system and interferon system of defense are complementary."

It is another injectable.  There is no recommended dose for MS in the 
book, called _Nurses Drug Guide 1997_, for MS.  Also I could only find 
two of the four types listed.  This could be because only the two are FDA 
approved in the US, but I don't know that for sure.

Side effects are many.  Blood has to be watched carefully and liver 
studies are frequently required (also blood work).  There seem to be an 
overabundance of GI side effects; nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.

I am going to quote again for the CNS side effects because they run right 
along side MS Sx.  "Adverse side effects/CNS: depression, nervousness, 
anxiety, confusion, dizziness, fatigue, somnolence, insomnia, altered 
mental states, ataxia, tremor, paresthesias, headache."

I would ask your MD what this drug might do for you.  It's action seems 
to be basically antiviral and antitumor (but selective).  I would guess 
that it's action may be somewhat like Cladribine because of the hairy 
cell leukemia connection but that is only an assumption.

                             L

***********************************************************
"Either we have hope within us or we don't; it is a dimension of the 
soul,
and it's not essentially dependant on some particular observation of the
world or estimate of the situation.  Hope is not prognostication. It is 
an
orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the
world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere 
beyond its horizons..."

            Vaclav Havel