Abdulraheem Yacoub, MD, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, discusses the use of biologic immune therapeutics, or interferons, for the treatment of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) including essential thrombocythemia, polycythemia vera, and myelofibrosis.

“We're very excited about the use of interferons in MPN and in our [National Comprehensive Cancer Network] (NCCN) guidelines, interferons are listed frequently for multiple indications and it's becoming a standard of care in all patients with MPN,” stated Dr Yacoub.

 This research was presented at the 2024 Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO) annual meeting in Houston, Texas.

Transcript:

Hello, my name is Abdulraheem Yacoub. I'm a professor of medicine at the University of Kansas. I specialize in myeloid cancers, particularly myeloproliferative neoplasms. I'm presenting about interferon use in myeloproliferative neoplasms at the [2024 Society of Hematology Oncology] (SOHO) meeting in Houston, Texas.

Interferons are biologic immune therapeutics that we have used for the treatment of MPNs for multiple decades. However, there is a lot of interest recently based on 2 important factors. One is the availability of pegylated interferons, which are more user-friendly for patients and providers have higher safety and efficacy rates compared to prior formulations of interferon. The second reason is the release of multiple clinical trials that showed activity in essential thrombocythemia, polycythemia vera, and myelofibrosis and the extensive research portfolio that is underway investigating these agents.

The 1 pegylated interferon product that is approved is interferon-alfa 2b for polycythemia vera. However, there have been extensive studies for interferon-alfa 2b in polycythemia vera and in essential thrombocythemia in ongoing studies. There's also the other formulation, [interferon] alfa-2a, or a brand named Pegasys. It's also been studied extensively in essential thrombocythemia and polycythemia vera, both in the first-line setting, and beyond the first-line setting.

There is ongoing interest in utilizing these agents for additional indications, including low-risk polycythemia vera and for early or low-risk myelofibrosis. The projected use of interferon is likely going to expand as we have more data piling in and more safety and efficacy results to discuss with our patients.

Using interferon comes with some challenges. There's additional cost and a learning process for patients to self-administer injectables. Also, there is a need for physician education, and that's the purpose of this presentation at SOHO—to expand awareness and comfort for prescribing physicians and treating physicians to use interferons in the appropriate patients. There are a few contraindications for interferon, and there are treatment-related side effects that can be managed, and this will require education to physicians.

However, we're very excited about the use of interferons in MPN and in our [National Comprehensive Cancer Network] (NCCN) guidelines, interferons are listed frequently for multiple indications and it's becoming a standard of care in all patients with MPN. We look forward to interactive discussions during SOHO and for future follow-ups and future data. Thank you for your attention.

Source:

Yacoub A. Interferon therapy for MPNs. Presented at the 2024 Society of Hematologic Oncology meeting. Houston, Texas; September 4-7, 2024.