The effect of interferon (INF)-alpha on the induction and activation of naturally occurring CD4+CD25+ regulatory T-cell and effector/memory T-cell subsets in patients (n = 14) with stage III melanoma receiving adjuvant high-dose IFN-alpha therapy was assessed in a recent study. The frequency of CD4+CD25high T-cells was found to be slightly increased from 1.1 to 1.5% in the peripheral blood of patients at 4 weeks following IFN-alpha therapy. In this subset of T-cells the expression of Foxp3 transcription factor diminished during treatment, while the expression of CTLA-4 and IL-7 receptor remained unchanged. On the contrary, high-dose IFN-alpha treatment resulted in enhanced expression of the chemokine receptors CCR5 and 7 which are involved in ...