High doses of recombinant α-interferon or γ-interferon for chronic hepatitis C: A randomized, controlled trial

✍ Scribed by Federico Sáez-royuela; Juan Carlos Porres; Alberto Moreno; Inmaculada Castillo; Gracia Martinez; Fernando Galiana; Dr. Vicente Carreño

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 438 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0270-9139
• DOI: 10.1002/hep.1840130220

✦ Synopsis

Chronic hepatitis C is often a progressive liver disease for which there is no satisfactory treatment. We studied the efficacy of recombinant a-interferon or y-interferon in the treatment of this disease in comparison with a control group. Thirty patients were randomly assigned to three groups. Ten patients received 7.5 M U a-interferodm' body surface three times weekly for 3 mo, then 5 MU/mZ for 3 mo and 2.5 MU/m' for 6 mo. Ten patients were treated with y-interferon at a dose of 2 MU/m" for 6 mo and the other 10 served as controls without treatment.

The mean serum ALT levels and liver histological findings improved significantly only in the patients treated with a-interferon. No changes were observed in patients treated with y-interferon or in controls. Five of 10 patients treated with a-interferon had complete responses (mean ALT normal during therapy). After treatment ALT returned to pretreatment levels in two of 5 patients. The long-term response rate after a-interferon therapy was 309 at 18 mo. W e conclude that a-interferon is effective in controlling disease activity in a portion of patients with chronic hepatitis C. High doses of a-interferon do not appear to add further benefit in the response rate or relapse rate. y-Interferon therapy is ineffective. (HEPATOLOGY 1991;