DISTRIBUTION OF IRON IN THE LIVER PREDICTS THE RESPONSE OF CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C INFECTION TO INTERFERON THERAPY

Recent evidence suggests that patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (CHCV) who respond to interferon-alpha (IFN) therapy have a lower hepa tic iron concentration than those who do not. The object of this study was to assess the concentration and distribution of iron in liver bio psies from 15 patients with CHCV seen at the authors' medical center b etween June 1992 and March 1993. Patients with complete response to IF N were compared to those with non-complete response with respect to qu antitative hepatic iron concentration, serum iron indices, and a detai led analysis of histologic features of hematoxylin-and-eosin and iron- stained pre-IFN biopsies. Patients with non-complete response had sign ificantly higher scores for stainable iron in sinusoidal cells (P = .0 2) and portal tracts (P = .05) than did patients with complete respons e. Total hepatic iron scores, mean quantitative hepatic iron, and mean serum ferritin were higher in patients with noncomplete response, but the differences were not significant. In conclusion, iron deposition in sinusoidal cells and portal tracts is significantly less frequent i n patients with complete response to IFN than in those with poor or no response, and may be a useful, objective predictor of response to IFN therapy.