PREDICTIVE FACTORS IN THE RESPONSE TO INTERFERON THERAPY IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS-C

Factors predicting the efficacy of interferon therapy were statistical ly analyzed on 111 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Of the treated p atients (total doses of interferon; 96-468 MU), 35 (31.5%) had a longt erm remission. On multivariate analysis, hepatitis C virus genotype (p <0.0001), histological diagnosis (p<0.05), fibrosis score of histologi cal activity index (p<0.01) and source of infection (p<0.05) were foun d useful for predicting the response to interferon therapy. Our findin gs suggest that the outcome of interferon therapy can be predicted to some degree from pretreatment data, and that a new therapeutic strateg y is necessary for the group of patients who are predicted to be nonre sponders.