HEPATIC IRON CONTENTS AND RESPONSE TO INTERFERON-ALPHA IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C - RELATIONSHIP TO GENOTYPES OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS

Recent reports have shown that response to interferon treatment is inf luenced by hepatic iron contents in patients with chronic hepatitis C. In those reports, however, hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes and seru m HCV-RNA levels were not examined. The aim of the present study was t o investigate whether hepatic iron contents influence the response to interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C and whether HCV genoty pes and serum HCV-RNA levels play a role in this relationship, Among 6 5 patients with chronic hepatitis C, hepatic iron contents were signif icantly high in patients with a history of excess drinking of alcohol (more than 80 g/day) compared to those without, and significantly low in female patients before menopause. Having excluded these patients, h epatic iron contents were significantly higher in patients with genoty pe 1b infection than those with genotype 2a and 2b infection. There wa s no significant correlation between hepatic iron contents and plasma HCV-RNA levels. Among the patients with genotype 1b infection, hepatic iron contents were significantly lower in the responders to interfero n than those in the nonresponders (429 +/- 100 vs 875 +/- 110 mu g/g l iver, P < 0.05), From these results, it is concluded that response to interferon is mainly influenced by HCV genotypes, while hepatic iron c ontents may play an important role in response to interferon in patien ts with genotype 1b infection.