Regression of monoclonal B-cell expansion in patients affected by mixed cryoglobulinemia responsive to α-interferon therapy
✍ Scribed by Cesare Mazzaro; Francesco Franzin; Patrizia Tulissi; Elisabetta Pussini; Marina Crovatto; Giorgio S. Carniello; Dimitar G. Efremov; Oscar Burrone; Gianfranco Santini; Gabriele Pozzato
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 947 KB
- Volume
- 77
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0008-543X
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Several authors have reported on the effectiveness of a-interferon (IFN-a) in the treatment of patients with mixed cryoglobulinemia. This prompted the authors to investigate the long term effects of this drug on clinical, hematologic, and virologic parameters in a group of 20 patients (13 women and 7 men) affected by mixed cryoglobulinemia.
METHODS.
In all patients, bone marrow biopsy, phenotyping of marrow cells, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) immunoglobulin gene rearrangement in peripheral blood lymphocytes were performed before therapy and at the end of the follow-up. A liver biopsy was obtained in patients with biochemical signs of chronic liver disease. The presence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in serum was assessed by detection of anti-HCV antibodies, and by PCR amplification of the 5' untranslated region of HCV. The HCV genotype was also determined by PCR amplification of the core region of the virus with type-specific primers. The treatment schedule followed by all patients was 3 million units of recombinant IFN-a 2b 3 times weekly for 1 year.