High sustained response rate and clearance of viremia in chronic hepatitis C after treatment with interferon-α2b for 60 weeks

✍ Scribed by Olle Reichard; Ulla Foberg; Aril Frydén; Lars Mattsson; Gunnar Norkrans; Anders Sönnerborg; Rune Wejstål; Zhi-Bing Yun; Ola Weiland

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 619 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0270-9139
• DOI: 10.1002/hep.1840190204

✦ Synopsis

To evaluate the effect of prolonged interferon-a treatment on serum aminotransferase levels and hepatitis C virus RNA in serum, 40 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection were treated with 3 MU interferon-%, thrice weekly for 60 wk. Before treatment all patients had elevated serum ALT levels for at least 1 yr, antibodies to HCV by second-generation tests and liver histological findings consistent with chronic hepatitis C. Before treatment hepatitis C virus RNA was found in serum in 39 of 40 (97.5%) patients. Normalization of ALT levels at treatment cessation was seen in 24 of 40 (60%) patients, of whom 15 of 24 (62.5%) had sustained ALT responses up to 24 wk after treatment. At follow-up, 24 wk after treatment, hepatitis C virus RNA was cleared from serum in 17 of 40 (42.5%) patients, including all sustained responders, one nonsustained responder and one nonresponder. We conclude that 60 wk of treatment with interferon-%, seems to induce a high percentage of sustained response, which coincides with cessation of viral replication. (HEPATOLOGY 1994; 19:280-285.)

Interferon is the only established treatment for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Normalization of serum aminotransferase levels is seen in approximately 50% of patients treated for 6 to 9 mo (1-31, of whom some 50% will relapse after treatment cessation. Presently, only 25% of treated patients will have long-term benefits from the treatment (4). After the cloning of HCV (51, the polymerase chain reaction method has been applied for the detection of HCV RNA in serum (6-8). A parallel decrease in aminotransferase