Recombinant interferon-alfa therapy in children with chronic hepatitis C.

Abstract

The efficacy of recombinant interferon-alfa therapy in children with chronic hepatitis C has been evaluated in a randomized, controlled pilot study including 27 patients, aged 2 to 14 years, without underlying systemic diseases. On entry, all patients had abnormal alanine transaminase (ALT) levels, 22 were hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA positive, 19 had mild chronic active hepatitis, and 8 had chronic persistent hepatitis on liver biopsy. Fourteen children received 5 MU/m2 of recombinant interferon-alfa2b thrice weekly for 4 months. If at this time ALT had been reduced to at least 50% the baseline level, treatment was continued up to 12 months. The other 13 children remained untreated. The whole follow-up period lasted 24 months. Interferon was stopped at 4 months in 4 children because of an ALT increase (2 cases), unchanged ALT and febrile convulsions (1 case), and slight ALT decrease (1 case). This latter patient, however, had normal ALT at 6 months and throughout further follow-up, and cleared HCV RNA, thus behaving as a sustained responder. All 10 children treated for 12 months had normal levels of ALT, and 9 were HCV RNA negative at the end of treatment. Of the 9 children who could be followed to 24 months, 4 relapsed soon after therapy withdrawal and 5 maintained a sustained biochemical and virologic response. Overall, 6 (43%) of 14 treated children had a sustained ALT normalization associated with HCV RNA clearance as compared with only 1 (7.5%) untreated child who had a sustained ALT normalization but did not clear HCV RNA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

• Authors: F Bortolotti, R Giacchino, P Vajro, C Barbera, C Crivellaro, A Alberti, G Nebbia, L Zancan, L De Moliner, A Bertolini
• Journal: Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) (Hepatology) Vol. 22 Issue 6 Pg. 1623-7 (Dec 1995) ISSN: 0270-9139 [Print] United States
• PMID: 7489965 (Publication Type: Clinical Trial, Journal Article, Randomized Controlled Trial)

Chemical References

• Interferon alpha-2
• Interferon-alpha
• RNA, Viral
• Recombinant Proteins
• Alanine Transaminase

Topics

• Adolescent
• Alanine Transaminase (blood)
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Chronic Disease
• Female
• Hepacivirus (genetics)
• Hepatitis C (therapy)
• Humans
• Interferon alpha-2
• Interferon-alpha (administration & dosage, adverse effects, therapeutic use)
• Male
• Pilot Projects
• Polymerase Chain Reaction
• RNA, Viral (blood)
• Recombinant Proteins