In the dermatological field,
interferon is used in clinical trials for
viral skin diseases and for malignant skin
tumors such as
malignant melanoma. In regard to
viral diseases, clinical trials have shown promising results in viral
warts,
herpes simplex and
herpes zoster. In the double-blind trial, patients with bilateral common
warts of the extremities were treated at weekly intervals with
intralesional injections of either human
fibroblast interferon or placebo. More than 81% of the
interferon-treated extremities were either cured by or responded effectively to the
therapy, while only 17% of the placebo responded. Although our data has confirmed that
interferon is effective in the treatment of common
warts diseases, the method of application and repeated
injections indicate that this
therapy may not be helpful in routine cases but only in selected patients in whom other
therapy has failed. However, development of new delivery systems or modification of dosages may increase the value of
interferon therapy for
warts disease.
Interferon seems also effective for
herpes zoster. But
herpes zoster usually regresses spontaneously within three weeks, therefore, it is not easy to define efficacy of
interferon in this disease. Therefore, we need to examine the effect of
interferon on
herpes zoster both in placebo controlled and double-blind trials involving patients with immunocompromised diseases.