Thirty-three patients with II type mixed essential
cryoglobulinemia (MEC) were randomized into two groups: one to receive combined
therapy including
prednisone plus
interferon, the other to receive
prednisone therapy.
Interferon was administered as induction treatment (3 Mu/day) and then as maintenance
therapy (3 Mu three times a week). 83% of the combined
therapy patients responded as opposed to 27% of the
prednisone treated patients. Among the patients that responded to combined
therapy, nine of them had a complete response, four a partial response, and two a minor response. None of the patients treated with
prednisone therapy responded completely but only two had a partial and two a minor response. Four patients (three of combined
therapy and one of
prednisone therapy) showed
proteinuria before the treatment which improved at the end of the induction
therapy. Ten patients showed anti-HCV positivity which remained unchanged after the treatment. Three patients showed liver involvement secondary to
cryoglobulinemia and an improvement of histological pattern after the induction with combined
therapy. One patient showed an improvement of
peripheral neuropathy after induction with the combined
therapy. These data suggest the effectiveness of
interferon given as induction and as maintenance treatment in the
therapy of II type mixed essential
cryoglobulinemia.