Changes in antibody titers to hepatitis C virus following interferon therapy for chronic infection

✍ Scribed by MD Akihiko Urushihara; Takeshi Sodeyama; Akihiro Matsumoto; Eiji Tanaka

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 804 KB
• Volume: 42
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.1890420405

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The use of quantitative assays for hepatitis C virus specific antibodies (anti‐HCV) as a prognostic marker was evaluated in 31 patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon (IFN). Changes in titers of serum HCV‐RNA and anti‐HCV antibodies; anti‐C11 (anti‐core), anti‐C100 (anti‐NS3), and anti‐C7 (anti‐NS3) were investigated. Recombinant IFN‐α 2a was administered and the patients were followed for more than 1 year. The patients were classified into three groups according to their responses to IFN: 11 sustained responders with continuous normalizations of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels; 14 transient responders with transient decreases in ALT; and six nonresponders who had no changes in ALT levels. Ten of 11 sustained responders had a continuous decrease in anti‐C11 titers after completion of treatment, decreasing to less than half of pretreatment titers. No patients in the other two groups had a continuous decrease in anti‐C11 titers. Although sustained responders had decreases in anti‐C100 and anti‐C7 titers after IFN therapy, these titers also decreased in some patients in the other two groups. HCV‐RNA was not detected in the sera of 10 of 11 sustained responders following IFN therapy. In contrast, while 9 of 10 transient and nonresponders had a decrease or disappearance of HCV‐RNA at the completion of therapy, they had increased levels thereafter. These results indicate that anti‐HCV‐core (anti‐C11) titers most closely reflect the status of HCV replication. A quantitative assay for anti‐HCV‐core antibody can be used as a predictive marker of remission in IFN‐treated patients with chronic hepatitis C. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.