MONOKINE PRODUCTION BY PERIPHERAL WHOLE-BLOOD IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C PATIENTS TREATED WITH INTERFERON

Using our scoring system, we studied the production of monokines (inte rleukin-1 alpha, interleukin-1 beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interleukin-6) by lipopolysaccharide-stimulated peripheral whole blood in 35 patients with chronic hepatitis C during the interferon-alpha/b eta therapy, It decreased in 25.7% (9/35, group A), fluctuated in 60.0 % (21/35, group B), and increased in 14.3% (5/35, group C). The patien ts in group A were younger than those in group B (P < 0.05). The histo logical grade of injury was milder in group A than in group B or C, Th e rate of sustained response was 66.7% (6/9) in group A, 19.0% (4/21) in group B, and 40.0% (2/5) in group C (P = 0.0184, group A versus gro up B), In summary, monokine production by peripheral whole blood varie d during interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis C patients, No signi ficant change was noted in 60% of the patients. However, patients with decreased monokine production were younger, with a mild histological grade, and likely to respond to the interferon therapy.