Interleukin eleven

The USP received a medication error report involving the products Neumega (oprelvekin) and Proleukin (aldesleukin). Oprelvekin, a recombinant human interleukin-eleven product used to stimulate platelet production in selected patients undergoing chemotherapy, is sometimes abbreviated asIL-11. Aldesleukin, a recombinant human interleukin-two derivative indicated in designated patient populations for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma, is sometimes abbreviated as IL-2. 

Interleukin eleven (IL-II) is a thrombopoietic growth factor and has a molecular mass of approximately 19,000 Da, and is nonglycosylated. The polypeptide is 177 amino acids in length. 

In the reported error, a physieian used the abbreviation IL-ll when ordering oprelvekin for a patient. Unfortimately, the order was misinterpreted to be interleukin-2 (i.e., the number eleven was pereeived to be the Roman numeral two). Five or more health eare professionals, ineluding pharmacists and nurses, mistook the order to be aldesleukin. The error was not detected for four days, until it was noted that the inventory of aldesleukin was nearly depleted. 

Hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells undergo extensive proliferation and differentiation in vitro under the influence of at least eleven hematopoietic growth factors. These include interleukin-1, -3, and -6 interferon alpha, beta, and gamma and erythropoietin. 

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