Abstract | INTRODUCTION: Several pretreatment factors have been reported to be useful in predicting patients with a high probability for a sustained response to IFN-alpha treatment, however, predictors of the efficacy of interferon-beta treatment in chronic hepatitis C have not been fully assessed. MATERIAL AND METHODS: To clarify this issue, a prospective study of 52 patients with chronic hepatitis C was conducted. Patients were treated with human natural interferon-beta by drip infusion at doses of 6 MU/day for 8 weeks. The following characteristics were compared between patients with sustained response (SR) and no response (NR): gender, age, source of HCV infection, mean pretreatment serum ALT levels, liver histology, pretreatment serum HCV- RNA levels and HCV genotype. RESULTS: Seventeen of 52 patients (32.7%) demonstrated SR. The proportion of patients with undetectable HCV- RNA levels determined by branched DNA assay (< 0.5 x 10(6) eq/ml) was higher in patients with SR than in those with NR (88.2% vs. 22.9%; p = 0.0001). Pretreatment HCV RNA levels determined by multicyclic reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction were lower in patients with SR than in those with NR (10(5.1 +/- 1.5) vs. 10(7.1 +/- 1.3) copies/ml; p = 0.0001). The rate of SR was higher in patients with genotype 2a or 2b than in genotype 1b (43.8% vs. 15.0%; p = 0.0382). Multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that a younger age and low pretreatment serum levels of HCV RNA were independent predictors of SR to treatment. This prospective study demonstrated that a younger age, low pretreatment viral load and HCV genotype 2a or 2b were factors influencing the SR to interferon-beta treatment, but a younger age and low pretreatment viral load were most important predictors of the efficacy of the treatment.
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Authors | T Fukutomi, M Fukutomi, M Iwao, H Watanabe, Y Tanabe, K Hiroshige, N Kinukawa, M Nakamuta, H Nawata |
Journal | Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research
(Med Sci Monit)
2000 Jul-Aug
Vol. 6
Issue 4
Pg. 692-8
ISSN: 1234-1010 [Print] United States |
PMID | 11208393
(Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
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Chemical References |
- Antiviral Agents
- RNA, Viral
- Interferon-beta
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Topics |
- Adolescent
- Adult
- Aged
- Antiviral Agents
(administration & dosage, adverse effects, therapeutic use)
- Female
- Genotype
- Hepacivirus
(genetics, isolation & purification)
- Hepatitis C, Chronic
(drug therapy, virology)
- Humans
- Infusions, Intravenous
- Interferon-beta
(administration & dosage, adverse effects, therapeutic use)
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Multivariate Analysis
- Prospective Studies
- RNA, Viral
(blood, genetics)
- Treatment Outcome
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