FATE OF ANTIBODY TO INTERFERON (IFN) IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C PATIENTS TREATED WITH RECOMBINANT IFN ALPHA-2 AND RETREATED WITH LYMPHOBLASTOIDIFN-ALPHA

Eight chronic hepatitis C patients treated with recombinant interferon (rIFN) alpha 2 developed neutralising antibodies against it, and lost response to therapy. After 6 months of follow-up, the treatment was s witched to lymphoblastoid IFN alpha and clinical response was restored . The presence of neutralising antibodies to IFN in the sera of these patients was examined during the follow up and during the retreatment with the natural IFN alpha preparation. The results showed that in mos t of the patients antibodies to IFN alpha 2 disappeared very rapidly d uring the follow-up period and did not rise again when the patients we re retreated with a different commercial preparation of IFN alpha.