Trial reportCancer2012
A phase 2 study of pegylated interferon α-2b (PEG-Intron(®)) in children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
Trial report in Cancer, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of ongoing clinical trials in optic pathway gliomas.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2020Pooled it
- Pediatric Optic Pathway Gliomas: Diagnosis, Management, and Outcomes.International ophthalmology clinics · 2026Review
- Operative performance of RAPNO DIPG imaging criteria-a study from the International DIPG/DMG Registry.Neuro-oncology practice · 2025Article
- Review
- Review
- Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma: Molecular Landscape, Evolving Treatment Strategies and Emerging Clinical Trials.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Review
- Encouraging Clinical Evolution of a Pediatric Patient With Relapsed Diffuse Midline Glioma Who Underwent WT1-Targeting Immunotherapy: A Case Report and Literature Review.Frontiers in oncology · 2020Article
- Review
- Clinical, Radiologic, Pathologic, and Molecular Characteristics of Long-Term Survivors of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG): A Collaborative Report From the International and European Society for Pediatric Oncology DIPG Registries.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2018Article
- Importance of immune monitoring approaches and the use of immune checkpoints for the treatment of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma: From bench to clinic and vice versa (Review).International journal of oncology · 2018Review
- Therapeutic advances for the tumors associated with neurofibromatosis type 1, type 2, and schwannomatosis.Neuro-oncology · 2016Review
- Disrupting NOTCH Slows Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma Growth, Enhances Radiation Sensitivity, and Shows Combinatorial Efficacy With Bromodomain Inhibition.Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology · 2015Article
- NK cell-based immunotherapies in Pediatric Oncology.Journal of pediatric hematology/oncology · 2015Review
- Pediatric brainstem gliomas: new understanding leads to potential new treatments for two very different tumors.Current oncology reports · 2015Review
- Managing teenage/young adult (TYA) brain tumors: a UK perspective.CNS oncology · 2015Review
- Immunotherapy in pediatric malignancies: current status and future perspectives.Future oncology (London, England) · 2014Review
- Diffusion tensor histogram analysis of pediatric diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.BioMed research international · 2014Article
- Clinico-radiologic characteristics of long-term survivors of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2013Article
- Trial Watch: Immunostimulatory cytokines.Oncoimmunology · 2013Review
- Brainstem glioma: a review.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2013Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInterferon-α is a cytokine that has demonstrated activity in patients with supratentorial gliomas, but its ideal dose and schedule of administration is unknown. Studies suggest that low-dose, continuous exposure is more efficacious than intermittent, high doses. The authors performed a phase 2 study of recombinant interferon α-2b with monomethoxy polyethylene glycol (PEG-Intron(®)) in children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a population with dismal survival despite decades of clinical investigation. The primary objective was to compare 2-year survival with a historic cohort that received radiation therapy alone.
methodsPatients received weekly subcutaneous PEG-Intron(®) at a dose of 0.3 μg/kg beginning 2 to 10 weeks after the completion of radiation therapy until they developed disease progression. Patients were evaluated clinically and radiographically at regular intervals. Serum and urine were assayed for biomarkers before each cycle. Quality-of-life (QOL) evaluations were administered at baseline and before every other cycle of therapy to the parents of patients ages 6 to 18 years.
resultsThirty-two patients (median age, 5.3 years; range, 1.8-14.8 years) were enrolled and received a median of 7 cycles of therapy (range, from 1 cycle to ≥70 cycles). PEG-Intron(®) was well tolerated, and no decrease in QOL scores was noted in the subset of patients tested. The 2-year survival rate was 14%, which was not significantly improved compared with the historic cohort. However, the median time to progression was 7.8 months, which compared favorably with recent trials reporting a time to progression of 5 months in a similar population.
conclusionsAlthough low-dose PEG-Intron(®) therapy did not significantly improve 2-year survival in children with DIPG compared with an historic control population, it did delay the time to progression.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.