Interferon-α-2b as an adjuvant therapy prolongs survival of patients with previously resected oral muscosal melanoma

Two major subtypes of melanoma include cutaneous melanoma and mucosal melanoma. The latter type is rare and usually occurs in the head and neck region. High-dose interferon-alpha-2b (IFN-alpha-2b) has proven effective in the treatment of cutaneous melanoma. Recently, a regimen of temozolomide plus cisplatin was reported more likely to improve relapse-free survival and overall survival than high-dose IFN-alpha-2b for mucosal melanoma. We conducted this study to analyze the therapeutic effect of high-dose IFN-alpha-2b for patients with oral mucosal melanoma who had received prior chemotherapy. One hundred and seventeen patients with stage III-IVa oral mucosal melanoma who had received chemotherapy were analyzed. The overall survival and relapse-free survival were compared between the patients with/without high-dose IFN-alpha-2b. The results indicate that the IFN-alpha-2b treatment group had a longer relapse-free survival rate (P = 0.0169) as compared to the control group. However, the overall survival was not significant between the two groups (P = 0.096), except in patients in stage IVa, whose overall survival increased by 20 months (P = 0.0146). The adverse reactions included a drug-induced influenza-like syndrome, gastrointestinal responses, myelosuppression, and hepatoxicity, which were predominantly of grade 1-2 and reversible. Thus, patients with resected oral mucosal melanoma, even those who have received chemotherapy, could benefit from the treatment of high-dose IFN-alpha-2b.